The Bharatiya Janata Party received over four times as much from donors in Gujarat between 2011-’12 and 2015-’16 as the other five national parties taken together, a five-year report released by the Gujarat Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms on Monday said, The Indian Express reported.
The BJP received Rs 80.45 crore in 2,186 donations above the Rs 20,000 threshold while the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Nationalist Congress Party received a combined Rs 17.10 crore. Of the 17.10 crore, the Congress received Rs 14.09 crore from 53 donations.
The BJP also received one-tenth of its nationwide donations from Gujarat, the report said.
Corporate houses are responsible for a massive proportion of the donations to all political parties in Gujarat. For the NCP, this figure stands at 100%. Over 96% of the Congress’ donations come from business houses while the corresponding figure is 89% for the BJP.
Torrent Power, Torrent Pharma and Cadilla Healthcare are the three top donors for all three parties.
“As per Election Commission of India norms, political parties have to declare donation details of Rs 20,000 or more,” Gujarat Election Watch State Coordinator Pankti Jog told the Ahmedabad Mirror. “Such donations account for a minuscule proportion of the donations received by political parties. Around 80% of the donations are declared as having come from anonymous sources. Political parties usually take donations in amounts less than Rs 20,000 to escape providing details.”
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