Declarations made by the five electoral trusts show that a total of Rs 194.12 crore was received from corporates and individuals.

• BJP has received almost 90 per cent of the entire donation amount
• Congress party has just received Rs 11 crore in donations
• The top 10 donors contributed Rs 139 crore of the total donation amount

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has received a lion’s share of the donations made to political parties by various electoral trusts (ETs) during the year 2017-18. Congress, on the other hand, ended up with fewer donations than Odisha’s ruling party Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

According to a report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the BJP received close to 90 per cent (Rs 167.80 crore) of all donations made by corporate houses and individuals. In contrast, the Congress party received just Rs 11 crore.

Thirteen of the 22 electoral trusts registered with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) have submitted details of contributions made to the Election Commission. However, only five of them have declared to have received donations in the year 2017-18.

Declarations made by the five electoral trusts show that a total of Rs 194.12 crore was received from corporates and individuals. Subsequently, Rs 193.78 crore was distributed to various political parties.

According to the rules formulated by the central government, electoral trusts are required to donate 95 per cent of their total income to registered political parties in a financial year.

Of the total donations disbursed the electoral trusts, BJP alone received Rs 167.80 crore (or 86.59 per cent), while four other partiesIndian National Congress (INC), Biju Janta Dal (BJD), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and J&K National Conference (JKNC)collectively received Rs 25.98 crore. The BJP received a mammoth Rs 154.30 crore from the Prudential Electoral Trust while AB General Electoral Trust donated Rs 12.50 crore to the BJP.

The Congress, which has been reduced to just three states and one union territory including the coalition government in Karnataka, received just Rs 11 crore as donations, which is Rs 3 crore less than what BJD received.

Major donors

The ADR analysis revealed that the top 10 donors had contributed Rs 139 crore (or 71.61 per cent) of the total donations to the various electoral trusts during 2017-18.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel contributed the highest amount (Rs 25.005 crore) among all donors followed by DLF Ltd., which donated Rs 25 crore. UPL Ltd. was another corporate which donated above Rs 20 crore.

Only two individuals, Anil Kumar Gupta (Rs 10 lakh to Janshakti Electoral Trust) and Sat Paul Mahajan (Rs 11,000 to Janshakti Electoral Trust) have contributed to ETs in 2017-18.