NEW DELHI: BJP received around Rs 2,244 crore in contributions of Rs 20,000 and above from individuals, trusts and corporate houses in 2023-24, which is more than three times its donations inflow in 2022-23. Congress, on the other hand, received Rs 288.9 crore through the same route in 2023-24, as against Rs 79.9 crore in the previous year.
As per contribution reports of the two parties for 2023-24, now available on the EC website, BJP received Rs 723.6 crore worth of donations from Prudent Electoral Trust, which also contributed Rs 156.4 crore to Congress. Simply put, around one-third of BJP’s and more than half of Congress’s donations in 2023-24 came from Prudent Electoral Trust. The top donors to Prudent in 2022-23 included Megha Engg & Infra Ltd, Serum Institute, Arcelor Mittal group & Bharti Airtel.
Poll bond receipts not part of BJP, Cong donation numbers
Total donations declared by BJP and Congress do not include receipts via electoral bonds, as rules require this detail to be declared by political parties only in their annual audit reports and not contribution reports. The electoral bond scheme was struck down by Supreme Court in Feb 2024, leaving contributions, either received directly or through the electoral trust route, as the primary source of funding for political parties.
Some regional parties, however, have voluntarily declared their receipts through electoral bonds in their 2023-24 contribution reports. These include BRS, which received Rs 495.5 crore in bonds; DMK, which received Rs 60 crore and YSR Congress that got Rs 121.5 crore through the now-defunct instrument. JMM declared Rs 11.5 crore receipts through bonds, though its other contributions were just over Rs 64 lakh.
BJP recorded a 212% rise in its contributions in 2023-24, compared to the previous year, though this is not unusual since it was the year before general elections. In 2018-19, the year before 2019 general election, BJP had declared contributions worth Rs 742 crore, and Congress, worth Rs 146.8 crore.
BJP received Rs 850 crore through the electoral trust route, of which over Rs 723 crore came from Prudent, Rs 127 crore from Triumph Electoral Trust and Rs 17.2 lakh from Einzigarting Electoral Trust. Congress received over Rs 156 crore through the trusts route, though Prudent was the sole donor here.
Prudent also contributed Rs 85 crore and Rs 62.5 crore to BRS and YSR Congress respectively in 2023-24, both of which were voted out of office the same year. TDP, now the governing party in Andhra Pradesh, received Rs 33 crore from Prudent. DMK received Rs 8 crore from Triumph Electoral Trust and Jayabharath Trust.
Interestingly, BJP has declared Rs 3 crore worth of donations from Future Gaming and Hotel Services in 2023-24, the company owned by Santiago Martin, also known as the ‘Lottery King’ of India. Future Gaming was the biggest donor through the electoral bonds route, with Trinamool Congress being the top beneficiary. Martin is under the lens of Enforcement Directorate and income-tax department for alleged money laundering.
Among other national parties, AAP declared contributions worth 11.1 crore in 2023-24, down from Rs 37.1 crore the previous year. CPM’s contributions went up to Rs 7.6 crore in 2023-24 from Rs 6.1 crore in 2022-23. National People’s Party, which is in office in Meghalaya, declared Rs 14.8 lakh in contributions. BSP declared nil donations in excess of Rs 20,000 yet again. BJD too declared nil donations for FY 2023-24.
TDP declared contributions of over Rs 100 crore in 2023-24, BJD nil and Samajwadi Party Rs 46.7 lakh as compared to Rs 33 crore the previous year.