Data shows BJP bagged 92% of corporate donations to political parties

ADR data for FY18: Contribution peaked in the run-up to the Assembly polls in Himachal, Gujarat

In 2017-18, corporates contributed as much as 12 times more money to the coffers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) than to those of the other six national parties combined.

The BJP received 93 per cent of all donations of above Rs 20,000 made to the country's six national political parties in 2017-18 by business groups and individuals, according to a report by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Donations from corporates formed 91.58 per cent of total donations declared by the BJP, the rest being from individual donors, the ADR analysis of details submitted to the Election Commission by national parties has revealed.

The seven national parties are the BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Trinanmool Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist). The BSP declared that it did not receive any amount in excess of Rs 20,000. The current law mandates political parties to declare the identity of all who donate more than Rs 20,000.

Total contributions declared by national parties in 2017-18 was Rs 469.89 crore from 4,201 donations. The BJP declared receiving Rs 437.04 crore from 2,977 donations, while the Congress got Rs 26.658 crore from 777 donations, or 5.67 per cent of total donations above Rs 20,000.

In this period, the country saw Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in November-December of 2017, in northeastern states of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya in February 2018, and in Karnataka a month after the end of the fiscal year, in May 2018.

The data also shows that donations to the BJP peaked in the months of September, October, November and December of 2017, that is in the run-up to the Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

Delhi led the way in donations, with Rs 208.56 crore coming from the national capital to these six parties. Maharashtra followed with donations of Rs 71.93 crore and Rs 44.02 crore came from Gujarat in 2017-18. A total of Rs 42.60 crore, or 9.07 per cent of total donations received by national parties, could not be attributed to any state because of incomplete information provided by the parties.

The total donations of the national parties in the period decreased by Rs 119.49 crore, a decline of 20 per cent from the previous financial year (FY17).

In this period, donations to the BJP decreased from Rs 532.27 crore during 2016-17 to Rs 437.04 crore in 2017-18 - a decline of 18 per cent. The Congress party's donations decreased from Rs 41.90 crore during 2016-17 to Rs 26.658 crore during 2017-18 - a 36 per cent decrease.

Corporate and business groups accounted for Rs 422.04 crore, or 89.82 per cent of all donations to six national parties, while 2,772 individual donors donated Rs 47.12 crore, or 10.03 per cent, to these parties during 2017-18.

For the BJP, 38 per cent of all its donations came from two donors - Prudent Electoral Trust (Rs 154.30 crore) and Ab General Electoral Trust (Rs 12.5 crore). For the Congress, 45 per cent of its donations came from two donors - Prudent Electoral Trust (Rs 10 crore) and Cadila Healthcare (Rs 2 crore).