Gujarat-based Pharma, power and real estate companies have emerged as the largest donors to the BJP and Congress. Out of total donation received nationally, BJP gets 10.04% from Gujarat while Congress receives 5.80% from Modi’s home state. The fi gures are based on donations of Rs 20,000 or more uploaded by Election Commission of India on its website.

In Gujarat, companies like Torrent Power, Torrent Pharma, Cadila Healthcare, Zydus Healthcare, Bakeri Construction, Savvy Infrastructure, Venus Infrastructure etc have been the biggest political donors in the last fi ve years, as per details furnished by Gujarat Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms. These bodies have the mandate of promoting greater transparency in the election process.

Pankti Jog, State Coordinator for the Gujarat Election Watch, said: “As per ECI norms, political parties have to declare donation details of Rs 20,000 or more. Such donations account for a miniscule proportion of the donations received by political parties. Around 80 per cent 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.”

As per the details declared by the ADR and Gujarat Election Watch, between 2011-12 and 2015-16, a total of Rs 1119.26 crore donation was made in amounts of Rs 20,000 or more. Out of this, BJP got Rs 801.675 crore while Congress received Rs 242.78 crore. The share from Gujarat to BJP stood at Rs 80.45 crore (10.04%) and to Congress at Rs 14.09 crore (5.80 %). Not surprisingly, in the last fi ve years BJP got 471% more donation than other political parties from Gujarat.