The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has declared over three times more income from unknown sources as compared to six other national parties. The amount received by the BJP is over five times more than that received by the Congress, an analysis by the Association of Democratic Reforms has found. The ADR report showed that the national parties collected Rs 3377.41 crore from unknown sources in FY 2019-20, which is 70.98 per cent of the total income of the parties. The BJP received a massive chunk of this income at Rs 2642.63 cr, which is 3.5 times more than the aggregate of income from unknown sources declared by the other 6 parties.

“At present, political parties are not required to reveal the name of individuals or organizations giving less than Rs 20,000 nor those who donated via Electoral Bonds. As a result, more than 70% of the funds cannot be traced and are from unknown sources. While the National Political Parties were brought under the RTI Act by the CIC ruling in June 2013, they have still not complied with the decision. Full transparency is, unfortunately, not possible under the current laws, and it is only the RTI that can keep citizens informed,” said the ADR report.

The report showed that between FY 2004-05 and 2019-20, the national parties collected Rs 14,651.53 crore from unknown sources. “During FY 2019-20, BJP declared Rs 2642.63 cr as income from unknown sources which is 78.24% of the total income of National Parties from unknown sources (Rs 3377.41 cr). This income of BJP is 3.5 times more than the aggregate of income from unknown sources declared by the other 6 National Parties (Rs 734.78 cr),” it said.

The opposition Congress declared Rs 526 crore as income from unknown sources which is 15.57% of the total income of the national parties from unknown sources.

“Out of Rs 3377.41 cr as income from unknown sources, the share of income from Electoral Bonds was Rs 2993.826 cr or 88.643%. The combined income of INC and NCP from the sale of coupons between FY 2004-05 and 2019-20 stands at Rs 4096.725 cr. According to the donations reports (containing details of donations above Rs 20,000) of FY 2019-20, Rs 3.18 lakhs was received in cash by the National Parties,” said the report.

The total income of 7 national political parties in FY 2019-20 was Rs 4758.206 crore. The total income of political parties from known donors was Rs 1013.805 crore, which is 21.31% of the total income of the parties.

According to another report by the ADR, the BJP’s total income during 2019-20 was Rs 3,623.28 crore. The ADR report also said that during the same period, the opposition Congress received Rs 682.21 crore as donations, five times less than the BJP.