Party donations for BJP increased by 70%, corporates major donors

Hyderabad: The donations made to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have increased by 70 per cent, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The BJP has received a total of Rs. 742.15 crore through 4,483 donations between 2018-19, the report said. Donations from corporates formed 94.06 per cent of the total donations declared by the BJP.

The data is based on the contribution reports submitted by the national parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the financial year 2018-19. The donations declared by the BJP is more than three times the aggregate declared by the Indian National Congress (INC), the Nationalist Congress Party, CPI, CPM, and the Trinamool for the same period.

According to the ADR report, the BJP's income from donations increased from Rs. 437.04 crore during the last financial year to Rs. 742.15 crore during 2018-19. The party’s donations had decreased by 18 per cent during 2017-18 in comparison to 2016-17. Meanwhile, the total donations declared by national parties was Rs. 951.66 crore from 5,520 donations during 2018-19. This is an increase of almost 103 per cent from the previous financial year 2017-18.

The BJP collected maximum donations in March 2019 when it received a total of Rs. 69.47 crore from 1,155 donations. It declared Rs. 15.035 crore from 76 donations in September 2018. The party has not declared the date of payments for 2,283 donations worth Rs. 609.39 crore, while the INC has not declared date of payments for 262 donations worth Rs. 22.83 crore. The BJP received 57 per cent of its donations from two donors, Progressive Electoral Trust (48 per cent) and Prudent Electoral Trust (9 per cent).

The INC declared donations worth Rs. 148.58 crore from 605 donors. The party’s donations increased from Rs. 26.658 crore during 2017-18 to Rs. 148.58 crore during 2018-19, a 457 per cent increase. Telangana made a total contribution of Rs. 6.85 crore towards national parties. The INC received the highest donations from Telangana, Rs. 1.6 crore, followed by the BJP, Rs. 5 crore.

Incomplete disclosure of information in donations report

Four of the seven national parties, BJP, INC, CPI, and CPM, did not declare PAN details of 1,300 donors through which the parties collected a total of Rs. 29.44 crore. The BJP collected Rs. 27.24 crore from 1,170 donors but failed to provide PAN details. The CPI collected Rs. 1.168 crore from 81 donors but did not provide their PAN details. Meanwhile, 28 donations to the INC worth Rs. 92.80 lakhs and 21 donations to CPM worth Rs. 10.70 lakhs do not have PAN details.

Three parties, the BJP, INC, and CPM, have declared 46 donations of Rs. 2.49 crore with missing/incorrect PAN details for 2018-19. The BJP declared Rs. 2.195 crore from 34 donations with missing/incorrect PAN details of donors, while the INC collected Rs. 27.50 lakhs from nine donors without PAN details. The CPM collected Rs. 1.90 lakh from 3 donors who do not have the complete PAN details.