Only one-third of electoral trusts reported donations in FY 2023-24, with BJP receiving 70.3% of ₹1,218.39 crore, raising transparency concerns.

Only one-third of the electoral trusts registered with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) have reported receiving donations from corporates and individuals for political funding in the financial year 2023-24, according to an Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report published Monday.

Titled “Analysis of Contribution Reports of Electoral Trusts FY 2023-24”, the ADR report that analysed contribution data published on the Election Commission of India’s website, stated that only six out of the total 19 registered electoral trusts have declared receiving a total of ₹1218.39 crore in donations in FY24. Of the total amount, ₹1,218.36 crore (or 99.99%) was transferred to various political parties within the same period, it added.

“The contribution reports of four trusts are not available on the website of the ECI. Nine others have declared receiving no donations in FY 2023-24… This raises a question on the continuation of registration of such electoral trusts that fail to fulfil their primary objective of distributing contributions received by them to the political parties concerned,” the ADR, a non-profit focused on electoral and political reforms, said in its report.

It recommended that CBDT may “withdraw the approval granted” to those trusts that have ceased their activities. The ADR also flagged that the names of the electoral trusts do not indicate the name of the company or group of companies that set up the trusts. “In order to have greater transparency regarding details of corporates which fund political parties, it would be ideal to include the name of the parent company in the name of the electoral trust,” it said.

The report also highlighted that among political parties, the BJP received the highest ₹856.45 crore (or 70.3%) of the total donations received from electoral trusts, while other parties, including the Congress, BRS, TDP and DMK, collectively received ₹360.90 crore.

The six electoral trusts — Prudent, Triumph, Jaybharath, Paribartan, Einzigartig and Swadeshi received ₹1,075.7 crore, ₹132.50 crore, ₹9 crore, ₹1 crore, ₹18 lakh and ₹20,000, respectively.

A total of 173 donations were received by these six trusts, of which only 31 were from individuals.

In terms of state-wise donations made to the electoral trusts, 19 donations totalling ₹170.44 crore were received from Telangana, six donations worth ₹123 crore from Gujarat; nine donations of collectively ₹109.00 crore from Delhi; nine donations worth ₹107.1 crore from Haryana and six donations totalling ₹101.7 crore from West Bengal, the report said, noting that the addresses of donors for collective donations of ₹308 crore could not be found.