Source: 
Author: 
Date: 
25.12.2014
City: 
BENGALURU

BENGALURU: Corporates and business houses provided 90 percent donations to national political parties in 2013-14, advocacy group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.

The ADR said in a report that total donations received by the Congress, NCP and the CPI during 2013-14 rose by 62.69 crore, which is an increase of 517 percent from the previous financial year.

The BJP did not furnish donation details to the Election Commission. The ADR said donations to the Congress rose from 11.72 crore in 2012-13 to 59.58 crore in 2013-14, an increase of 408 percent.

In 2012-13, donations declared by the BJP was more than the aggregate declared by the Congress, NCP, CPI and the CPI-M during 2013-14. The BJP had declared a total of 83.19 crore received above Rs 20,000 during 2012-13.

Bharti Group's Satya Electoral Trust donated the maximum amount of 36.5 crore to the Congress followed by A.V. Patil Foundation, which donated 5 crore, and Bharat Forge Ltd's 2.50 crore, said the ADR report prepared on the basis of donation details provided by the political parties.

None of these three groups donated to the Congress during 2012-13.

"90 percent of the donations being from corporates shows the increasing hold of the corporate sector on political parties which is somewhat disconcerting. The ruling party not submitting its donation report is not a good sign," said Jagdeep Chhokar, founder-trustee of ADR.

Political parties are required to submit a report on receiving contributions for furnishing a return of their income. The BJP is the only national party which is yet to submit its donations report to the Election Commission, the ADR said.

The total amount of donations above 20,000 declared by the national parties was 76.93 crore, from 881 donations and on an average, the Congress received 11.70 lakh per donor, NCP got 1 crore, CPI received 3.23 lakh and the CPI-M got 4.03 lakh.

The report said donations to the CPI-M reduced from 3.81 crore during 2012-13 to 2.097 crore during 2013-14. The BSP declared that it did not receive any donations above 20,000 during 2013-14, as it has declared in the past.

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