Corporates and business houses donated Rs 876 crores to national political parties in 2018-19. BJP got the highest donation of Rs.698 crore.

Corporates and business houses donated Rs.876 crores in total to various national political parties in the fiscal year 2018-19 (before the Lok Sabha election financial year) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the biggest recipient of such funds according to a study conducted by a think tank ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms). As per the data released by ADR based on the filings of political parties to the Election Commission, BJP got Rs.698 crores, followed by Congress with Rs.122.5 crores. As per law, all political parties have to show the donations above Rs.20,000 in a financial year.

According to the filings of the political parties, by an average 92 percent of the donations came from corporate and business firms. “Out of five national parties, the BJP received maximum donations of Rs 698.082 crores from 1,573 corporate donors followed by Congress which received a total contribution of Rs 122.5 crores from 122 corporate donors, and NCP with Rs 11.345 crores from 17 corporate donors,” it said.

Interestingly the ADR report said that a total of 319 donations through which national parties received Rs 31.42 crores do not have address details in the contribution form.

“Out of the total of Rs 876.10 crores donated by the corporate/ business houses to the 5 national parties in FY 2018-19, Rs 20.54 crores was received from the un-segregated category, which includes companies with no details available online or whose nature of work is unclear,” the report said.

In India following are the status of national parties. They are BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and National People’s Party of Meghalaya. Now TMC, CPI, and NCP are arguing with Election Commission to retain their national party status after the debacle in the Lok Sabha 2019 polls[1].

Interestingly the ADR report said that a total of 319 donations through which national parties received Rs 31.42 crores do not have address details in the contribution form. “National parties have received Rs 13.57 crores from 34 donations which do not have PAN details in the contribution form. Rs 13.33 crores or 99.75 percent of such donations without PAN details as well as address details worth Rs 13.364 crores belong to the BJP,” the report said.

“A total of Rs 13.364 crores was collected by the national parties from 274 corporate donors without obtaining their PAN details and address details. Such incomplete contributions reports must be returned to the parties by the ECI, to deter them from providing incomplete information,” it said.

It must be remembered that all are the self-declarations of political parties. The previous year, DMK’s declaration had put CPI(M) and CPI in a tight spot. Both Left parties received Rs.25 crores in total from DMK and not reflected in their declarations[2].

References:

[1] TMC, CPI, NCP defend national party status before EC – Sep 9, 2019, India Today

[2] DMK affidavit to EC puts CPM, CPI in tight spot – Sep 23, 2019, The Pioneer