The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the recipient of nearly 80% (Rs 614 crore) of the total funds (Rs 780 crore) that were donated to the eight national parties in the country in the financial year 2021-22, according to a report released by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on February 14, 2023.
The report further revealed that the Indian National Congress (INC) came second as it received around Rs 95 crore from the total funds. "The donations declared by BJP are more than three times the aggregate declared by INC, NCP, CPI, CPI(M), NPEP and AITC for the same period," the report noted.
ADR's report focuses on donations above Rs 20,000 which were received by the national political parties during the financial year 2021-22, as per details submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI). It found that the total donations to the national parties during the aforementioned time period increased by Rs 187.026 crore, which is an increase of 31.50% from the previous financial year 2020-21.
The report also revealed that around 80% of the total donations which amounts to Rs 625.883 crore from the total funds, made to national parties came from corporates and business sectors. Out of this, "The BJP (Rs 548.808 crore) received more than seven times the total amount (Rs 77.075 crore) of corporate donations declared by all other national parties for the FY 2021-22," the report noted. Meanwhile, the INC received a total of Rs 54.567 crore in the form of donations from corporate/business sectors during the same time period.
The Prudent Electoral Trust emerged as the one of the top two donors of both BJP and INC. It contributed to 54.75 % of total funds received by BJP and 17.28% of total funds received by INC, the report revealed.
Apart from the observations, the ADR recommended that the national and regional political parties must provide all information of their finances under the Right to Information Act. "This will go a long way in strengthening political parties, elections and democracy," it noted.
