These 3 Hyd infra companies donated to political parties in 2020-21; BJP biggest gainer

Hyderabad: One of India's richest electoral trust, Prudent (formerly Satya Electoral) based in New Delhi, received a whopping Rs. 245.72 crore political funding from corporate companies in the financial year 2020-21. And to no one's surprise, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party bites a large share, a sum of Rs. 209 crore.

While India was struggling with the first wave of COVID-19, a total of 31 corporate influencers donated to political parties. Among them three are from Hyderabad – Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (donated Rs. 22 crore), new entrant KMV Projects- Construction company (donated Rs. 1.5 crore), and GMR Airport Developers Limited (Rs. 1 crore)- the group operates the Hyderabad and Delhi International Airports. Notably, in the previous year 2019-20, NACTO pharma group, MNC Pharma, and Hetero were among the top donors from Hyderabad.

It is pertinent to note that Prudent has been one of BJP's biggest funders ever since it came to power in 2013-14. Compared to the 21 other trusts, Prudent receives over 90% of corporate-to-political parties donations.

Indore-based Future Gaming and Hotel services (Rs. 100 crore), Bharati Group (Rs. 25 crore), Phillips Carbon Black (Rs. 20 crore), and Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure (Rs. 22 crore) are among the top influential donors.

To recall, the concept of electoral trust was introduced by the UPA government and what followed next was electoral bonds in the NDA. Professor Jagdeep Chhokar, the founding member of the Associate of Democratic Reforms, raised certain concerns regarding political funding. He said, "Corporate influencers donate in order to get back investments. They become part of a political party's favorable decisions and treatment. It is the corporate entity that decides whom to donate via trusts, bonds."

He further added, "In foreign countries, companies donate to parties with the same ideology. However, the trend in India is different. It is a quid pro quo. Political parties are 100% exempted from income tax under section 13 (a). The funding received through trusts, bonds, individual contributions and other investments goes untaxed. Over the years, it has been observed that establishments are donating during non-election years. The BJP has turned out to be the biggest gainer."

Meanwhile, the funding for Indian National Congress (INC) has plunged significantly over the years. Between 2016-21, BJP received Rs. 860 crore from Prudent while the Congress received Rs. 96 crore.

BJP's total assets

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party owns a whopping Rs 4,847.78 Crore worth assets. This includes donations via electoral bonds - 'unidentified sources', followed by individual's contributions, party membership fee and immovable assets. It is pertinent to note that, the wealth of all the other national parties, i.e Bahujan Samaj Party, Indian National Congress party (INC), NCP, CPM and CPI, together do not sum up to that of the BJP. The total assets declared by the 7 National and 44 Regional Parties for the year 2019-20 amounted to Rs 6988.57 cr and Rs 2129.38 cr, respectively, a report by ADR 2020-21 said.