The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party received Rs 290 crore of Rs 325.27 crore that corporate houses donated to 10 political parties through electoral trusts in 2016-’17, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms said on Monday.
ADR, a Delhi-based NGO, said it studied details from 21 electoral trusts registered with the Central Board of Direct Taxes. Electoral trusts are non-profit companies that get donations for political parties from corporate houses and individuals. They are required to make declarations every year to the Election Commission.
According to the report, the BJP got 89.22% of donations, followed by the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Samajwadi Party. It said only 14 of the 21 electoral trusts shared information with the poll panel and six said they had received donations in 2016-’17.
Between 2013-’14 and 2016-’17, the BJP got Rs 488.94 crore through donations. The party is in power in 19 states.
DLF Limited was the top corporate donor, giving away Rs 28 crore. UPL Limited came second with JSW Energy, with Rs 25 crore each. All their donations were made through the electoral trust, Prudent Trust.
Among individual contributions, Kotak Mahindra’s Finance promoter Suresh Kotak donated Rs 18 crore to the Janta Nirvachak Electoral Trust, while Max group founder Analjit Singh donated Rs 1 crore to Prudent Trust.
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