India Inc goes all out to fund LS polls, but no rush for electoral trusts

India Inc is learnt to have stepped up its funding aggressively for the upcoming Lok Sabha (LS) elections, but growth in the number of electoral trusts has been lacklustre. For some of the business majors, the fund outgo for the 2019 elections has risen as much as 15 to 20 times, compared to the amount given to political parties five years ago, sources in the know said.
 
Quite a few big groups are spending upwards of Rs 500 crore each this election through various modes of donation, company executives confirmed. However, electoral trusts, introduced in 2013 for transparent funding,