It was raining donations for the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2013-14. An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) has found that the party cornered about 69 per cent of the total donations made to the parties in the country during that period.
Surprisingly, the party was not in power at the Centre when it gained the most.
In general, there has been an increase of over 150 per cent in donations made to political parties in 2013-14. About 92 per cent of these donations were from the corporate sector.
The total amount of donations above Rs 20,000 declared by the national political parties was Rs 247.79 crore, which was earned from 2,361 donations.
Bharti Group’s Satya Electoral Trust donated the maximum amount of Rs 41.37 crore to the BJP, followed by Sterlite Industries India Ltd, which donated Rs 15 crore, and Cairn India Ltd which donated Rs 7.5 crore. None of these companies donated to the BJP during 2012-13.
Moreover, the total donations of the BJP increased by Rs 87.67 crore, from Rs 83.19 crore in 2012-13 to Rs 170.86 crore in 2013-14 (an increase of about 105 per cent).
Significantly, donations declared by the BJP during 2013-14 were more than twice the aggregate declared by the Congress, NCP, CPI and CPI-M during the same year.
While the BJP received Rs 170.86 crore from 1,295 donors, the Congress received funds only to the tune of Rs 60 crore from 509 donors.
Satya Electoral Trust was the top donor to the Congress, contributing Rs 36.50 crore during 2013-14. This trust made the contribution of Rs 4 crore to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) during 2013-14.
The analysis revealed that on an average, the BJP received Rs 13.19 lakh per unique donor; the Congress received Rs 11.70 lakh per unique donor; the NCP received Rs 1 crore; the CPI received Rs 3.23 lakh; and CPI-M received Rs 4.03 lakh per unique donor. The Bahujan Samaj Party declared that it received no donation above Rs 20,000.
Most of the donations came from the national Capital. In Delhi, the BJP received Rs 45.21 crore through 119 donations by both corporates and individuals. In Gujarat, the BJP received Rs 23.25 crore; and it received Rs 22.24 crore from Maharashtra.
During 2013-14, the Congress received Rs 39.05 crore from donors in Delhi; the CPI received Rs 54.6 lakh; and the CPI-M received Rs 1.88 crore during the same period.
The analytical report revealed that three donations from individuals based in Singapore were made to BJP, amounting to Rs 8.50 lakh. These were the only declared donations from outside India.
The report added that there have been some discrepancies in the data provided by the parties to the ECI.
According to the report, Rs 60.78 crore (36 per cent) was declared as donations by the BJP from donors whose addresses were not declared.
“Due to lack of complete information, the state from which the donations were made and the details of business houses could not be verified. Thus, it should be made mandatory to give complete information in the donations report of parties,” said ADR head Anil Verma.
