Electoral Donations: Political parties in India receive donations of hundreds of crores of rupees every year. It is generally seen that the party which is in power at the center receives maximum donations. Now the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has released its report regarding this. In which it has been told that in 2021-22, BJP has received Rs 351.50 crore i.e. 72.17 percent of the total donations given to political parties through Electoral Trust. While the main opposition Congress got less donations than Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Samajwadi Party (SP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and YSR Congress.
BJP gets 19 times more donations than Congress
Explain that ‘Electoral Trust’ is a non-profit organization formed in India to donate to political parties from corporate entities and individuals. Its purpose is to improve transparency in the use of money for election related expenses. ADR data shows that the BJP has received nineteen times more donations than the Congress in 2021-22 from the Electoral Trust. The total donation to the BJP was 2.5 times more than the donations received by the other nine parties.
According to the ADR, the Congress got Rs 18.44 crore from the Electoral Trust, while TRS got Rs 40 crore, SP Rs 27 crore, AAP Rs 21.12 crore and YSR Congress Rs 20 crore. It has been said in the report that Akali Dal got Rs 7 crore, Punjab Lok Congress Party got Rs 1 crore, Goa Forward Party and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) got Rs 50 lakh each.
Who donated how much?
ADR said that out of the donations received by the Electoral Trust during the financial year 2021-22, it has received a total of Rs 487.09 crore from corporate houses and individuals and a total of Rs 487.06 crore (99.99 per cent) has been distributed among various political parties . 89 corporate/business houses contributed Rs 475.80 crore to Electoral Trust in FY 2021-22, out of which 62 contributed Rs 456.30 crore to Prudent Electoral Trust, two corporates contributed Rs 10.00 crore to AB General Electoral Trust , three corporates contributed Rs five crore to the Samaj Electoral Trust and 15 corporates contributed Rs 2.20 crore to the Independent Electoral Trust.
ADR said that in the financial year 2021-22, a total of 40 individuals have contributed to the Electoral Trust, out of which 13 have contributed Rs 8.53 crore to the Prudent Electoral Trust, 15 individuals have contributed Rs 2.61 crore to the Independent Electoral Trust And 12 people gave a total of Rs 14.34 lakh to the Small Donation Electoral Trust.
