BJP was a favourite among corporate donors in 2017-18, says report

Date:

17.01.2019

A report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) from submissions made by the political parties to the Election Commission (ECI) shows that the BJP has received Rs 437 crore as donations.

HIGHLIGHTS

The party received Rs 437 crore in donations, says the report
At the same time, donations of more than Rs 19 crore were made to the Congress
The report is prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has received more corporate donation in the financial year 2017-18 than any other political party in India. A report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) from submissions made by the political parties to the Election Commission (ECI) shows that the BJP has received Rs 437 crore as donations which is 12 times more than the aggregate declared by Indian National Congress (INC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the All India Trinmool Congress (AITC).

Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has declared that it did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000, as it has been declaring for the past 12 years. The report said that total donations above Rs 20,000 declared by the national parties for the financial year 2017-18 was Rs 469.89 crore, from a total of 4,201 donations. A total of Rs 437.04 crore was declared by the BJP from 2,977 donations, while the Congress party declared that they had Rs 26.658 crore from 777 donations.

Some 1,207 donations were made to the BJP (Rs 400.23 crore) from corporate or business sectors, while 1,759 individual donors donated Rs 36.71 crore to the BJP. Total 1,361 donations of Rs 422.04 crore (89.82% of the total donations) were made to the national parties by corporate or business sectors, while some 2,772 individual donors donated Rs 47.12 crore (10.03% of the total donations) to the parties during the financial year 2017-18. The INC received a total of Rs 19.298 crore from 53 donations made by corporate or business sectors, and a sum of Rs 7.36 crore from 724 individual donors during the financial year.

Prudent Electoral Trust donated a total of Rs 164.30 crore to the BJP and Congress together, and is one of the top two donors to the two parties. The trust donated Rs 154.30 crore to BJP (35% of total funds received by the party) and Rs 10 crore to Congress (38% of total funds received by the party). Congress got Rs 50 lakh from BG Shirke Construction Technology Private Limited, and Rs 50 lakh from Jankalyan Electoral Trust Mumbai. The total donations of the national parties during the financial year 2017-18 has decreased by Rs 119.49 crore, a fall of 20% from the previous financial year 2016-17.