The Supreme Court on Thursday annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding, a much anticipated judgment with far-reaching ramification.

NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), one of the petitioners in the electoral bond case, termed the decision a big boost to democracy but also noted that the infirmities which existed in the electoral system pre-2017 still have to be worked on.

In a recently released report, the ADR went into detail on which parties received the most amount of funds through the scheme, who donated the funds and from where.

Who received what

The total donations (above Rs 20,000) declared by the national parties for FY 2022-23 was Rs 850.4 crore from 12,167 donations.

A total of Rs 719.8 crore from 7,945 donations was declared by the BJP followed by Rs 79.9 crore from 894 donations declared by the Congress.

The donations declared by the BJP are more than five times the aggregate declared by Congress, AAP, NPEP and CPI(M) for the same period.

BSP declared that the party did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2022-23, as it has been declaring for the past 17 years.

Funding over the years

The total donations of the national parties during FY 2022-23 increased by Rs 91.7 crore, an increase of 12.09% from the previous financial year 2021-22.

Donations to the BJP increased from Rs 614.62 crore during FY 2021-22 to Rs 719.8 crore during FY 2022-23 (17.12% increase).

INC’s donations decreased from Rs 95.45 crore during FY 2021-22 to Rs 79.92 crore during FY 2022-23 (-16.27% decrease).

Location of donors

Segregation of donations according to state was made by ADR based on the addresses provided by the parties in their donations report to the Election Commission.

A total of 3,067 donations from corporate/business sectors were made to the BJP (Rs 610.49 crore) while 4,612 individual donors donated Rs 106.72 crore to the party during FY 2022-23.

The Congress received a total of Rs 55.62 crore via 70 donations from corporate/business sectors and Rs 24.24 crore via 823 individual donors during FY 2022-23.

Who were the top donors

Prudent Electoral Trust donated a total of Rs 257.15 cr to the BJP and AAP together and is the top donor to parties that received the maximum donations. The Trust donated Rs 256.25 cr to the BJP (35.60% of total funds received by the party) and Rs 90 lakh to AAP (2.43% of total funds received by the party).

M/s. MKJ Enterprises Ltd donated Rs 45 crore from 7 donations to the Congress and B.G. Shirke Construction Technology Pvt Ltd donated Rs 35 crore from 3 donations to the BJP.