NEW DELHI: The BJP got the lion’s share – about 90% — of all donations from electoral trusts during the financial year 2016-2017, an Association for Democratic Reforms report revealed on Monday.
While the BJP received donations to the tune of H290 crore, nine other political parties got H35.05 crore collectively. The Congress got a paltry H14.9 crore.
The report also revealed that contributions to political parties went up by a whopping 557.1 per cent from H49.5 crore in 2015-2016 to H325.27 crore in 2016-2017.The total amount received by six electoral trusts, which submitted details of donations, was H325.45 crore. They disbursed 99.92 per cent of the donations to various parties. Election Commission (EC) guidelines mandate that electoral trusts should donate at least 95 per cent of the received funds to parties.
Of 21 trusts registered with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), only 14 have submitted their contribution details to the EC. Eleven trusts have declared that they received no donations during the 2016-2017 fiscal. The last date for submitting details of contributions was October 30, 2017.
Of the biggest contributors, DLF topped the list with H28 crore, followed by UPL Limited which contributed H25 crore. Only one individual, Suresh Kotak, featured among the top five contributors with a contribution of H18.5 crore. Kotak was among only two individuals who contributed to the trusts during the fiscal, with the second being Analjit Singh who donated H1 crore.
Prudent Electoral Trust was the highest grosser with donations worth H283.73 crore, amounting to 87.18 per cent of the total donations received. Janta Nirvachak Trust was a distant second, with donations worth H23 crore. Contributions worth H12.03 crore put the New Democratic Electoral Trust in the number three position.
Prudent and Samaj electoral trusts disbursed donations to five or more parties while Janata Electoral Trust donated its entire contribution H25 crore to BJP. Three of the six trusts that got funds donated only to one political outfit. Over half the total donations came from 10 donors.