The total amount donated to national parties for the financial year 2021–22 increased by Rs 187.03 crore or 31.50 percent over the prior fiscal, said a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The number of donations (above Rs 20,000) totalled Rs 780.774 crore from 7,141 donations, according to the national parties’ declarations for 2021–22. According to the poll reform organisation ADR, the Bharatiya Janata Party collected Rs 614 crore in donations in 2021–2022 while the Congress received Rs 95 crore.
“A total of Rs 614.63 crore from 4,957 donations was declared by the BJP, followed by Rs 95.46 crore from 1,255 donations declared by Congress. The donations declared by the BJP are more than three times the aggregate declared by the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the CPI, the National People’s Party and the Trinamool Congress for the same period,” the ADR claimed.
According to the ADR, the Bahujan Samaj Party reported that it did not receive any donations beyond Rs 20,000 during the years 2021–2022. In comparison to 2020–21, the total donations received by the national parties increased by Rs 187.03 crore or 31.50 percent.
It claimed that donations to the BJP increased by 28.71% in a year, from Rs 477.55 in FY 2020–21 to Rs 614.63 in FY 2021–22. It also stated that donations to the party had declined by 41.49% from FY 2019–20 to FY 2020–21. Donations to the Congress rose from Rs 74.52 crore in FY 2020–21 to Rs 95.46 crore in FY 2021–22 (28.09 per cent increase). According to the report, donations to Congress fell by 46.39% over the fiscal years 2019–20 and 2020–21.
The National People’s Party reported a fall in donations of 40.50 percent (Rs 24.10 lakhs) and a decrease of 22.06 percent (Rs 2.85 crore) from the previous fiscal year, respectively, it added. Based on the addresses provided by the parties in their donation reports to the Election Commission, ADR divided donations by state.
According to the report, Delhi donated a total of Rs 395.85 crore to national parties, followed by Maharashtra with Rs 105.3523 crore and Gujarat with Rs 44.96 crore. Due to incomplete or unreported information provided by the parties, a total of Rs 12.26 crore (1.57 percent of all donations received by national parties in FY 2021-22) could not be assigned to any state or union territory, the statement added.
According to the ADR, 2,551 donations of Rs 625.88 crore (or 80.16 percent of the total) were contributed to national parties by corporate and business sectors, while Rs 153.33 crore (19.64 percent) was given by 4,506 individuals.
According to the statement, 2,068 donations totalling Rs 548.81 crore from corporate and business sectors and Rs 65.77 crore from 2,876 individual donors were made to the BJP in the years 2021–22. The Congress got a total of Rs 54.57 crore from 170 corporate and business sector donations and Rs 40.89 crore from 1085 individual donors during FY 2021–22.
According to the statement, the BJP got more than seven times as much in corporate donations for the fiscal year 2021–22 (548.81 crore rupees) as all other National parties combined (77.08 crore rupees). The biggest donor to parties that received the most money is the Prudent Electoral Trust, which gave the BJP and Congress a combined total of Rs 353 crore.
The Trust gave the BJP Rs 336.50 crore (54.75% of the total funding received by the party) and the Congress Rs 16.50 crore (17.28 per cent of total funds received by the party). According to Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Limited, it made a single donation to the Congress of Rs 15 crore.
BJP received donations totalling Rs 10.50 crore from Pacific Exports in seven donations, Rs 10 crore from Ab General Electoral Trust in two donations, Rs 10 crore from Shreeji Shipping in one donation, and Rs 10 crore from Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital in ten donations in 2021–22, according to the ADR.
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