NEW DELHI: Who funds political parties? Corporates do. According to an analysis by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 90% of political funds have been contributed by corporates or business houses. Roughly about half the amount donated to political parties came from Delhi followed by Maharashtra and Gujarat.
This is based on declaration of donations submitted by parties to the Election Commission. While BJP is yet to submit details of its donors for 2013-2014 to the Election Commission, three national parties including Congress, NCP and CPI received 517% more funds than the previous year (2012-2013).
Total donations received by national parties were Rs 76.93 crore from 881 donations. Incidentally, donations to Congress increased from Rs 11.72 crore during FY 2012-13 to Rs 59.58 crore during FY 2013-14 (408% increase). Donations declared by BJP during 20012-2013 was more than the aggregate declared by Congress, NCP, CPI and CPM during 2013-2014.
ADR founder-trustee Prof Jagdeep Chhokar said, "90% of donations coming from corporates shows the increasing hold of the corporate sector on political parties which is somewhat disconcerting. The ruling party not submitting its donation report is not a good sign as it possibly indicates a lack of respect for integrity of institutions which is not healthy for a democracy."
A total of Rs 45.49 crore was donated to national parties from Delhi by both corporates and individuals together followed by Rs 18.12 crore from Maharashtra and Rs 3.01 crore from Gujarat.
Of the donations received, Congress received maximum donations from Delhi (Rs 39.05 crore), as did CPI (Rs 54.6 lakhs) and CPM (Rs 1.88 crore) while NCP received maximum donations from Maharashtra (Rs 8.02 crore).
A total of Rs 2.38 crore that is 3.09% of total donations above Rs 20,000 was received in cash during 2013-2014.