The Naveen Patnaik-led party has received a total donation of Rs 692.6 crore with around 90 per cent in the form of electoral bonds during the six-year period.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has emerged the richest regional political party in the country between 2016-17 and 2021-22. The Naveen Patnaik-led party has received a total donation of Rs 692.6 crore with around 90 per cent in the form of electoral bonds during the six-year period.

The latest analysis of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on donations received by political parties indicated that 24 regional parties have received donations to the tune of Rs 3,246.95 crore, including Rs 2,132.45 crore from electoral bonds, Rs 719.69 crore from corporates and Rs 394.8 crore from other sources during the period.

The Odisha-based party has received Rs 622 crore from electoral bonds, Rs 67.28 crore from corporate sector and Rs 3.32 crore from other sources. Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), now Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), received Rs 476.89 crore, followed by DMK at Rs 475.73 crore, YSR-C Rs 456.2 crore, Shiv Sena Rs 267.9 crore, AAP Rs 169.7 crore, TDP Rs 168.67 crore and JDU Rs 159.39 crore. 

BJD was among 11 regional parties that declared receiving maximum direct corporate donations during the six-year period. Shiv Sena received the highest Rs 117.6 crore from corporate houses. The ADR analysis found, BJD received Rs 13 crore in 2017-18, Rs 29 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 25.28 crore in 2019-20 from the corporate sector. It did not receive any corporate donation in 2016-17, 2020-21 and 2021-22. The donations to regional parties from electoral bonds and the corporate sector were highest in 2021-22 and 2018-19, respectively. 

Among regional parties, BJD declared the highest donations from top 10 corporate donors amounting to Rs 67.28 crore, followed by TRS with Rs 56.5 crore. The party has declared to have received Rs 7 crore from Prudent Electoral Trust, Rs 25.28 crore from Progressive Electoral Trust and Rs 35 crore from AB General Electoral Trust.

Since the inception of the Electoral Bond Scheme in 2017-18, the donations have gone up by 14,026.40 per cent and corporate donations increased by 389.55 per cent for regional parties during the period.
Among seven national parties, BJP declared the highest total donations to the tune of Rs 10,122 crore, followed by Congress with Rs 1,547.43 crore and AITC with Rs 823.301 crore. More than 52 per cent of the saffron party’s total donation receipts came from electoral bonds at Rs 5271.97 crore. All other national parties combined got Rs 1,783.93 crore.

BJD receipts

Total Rs 692.6 cr

Electoral bonds - Rs 622 cr

Corporate sector - Rs 67.28 cr

Other sources - Rs 3.32 cr