Donations of nat'l parties during FY 2021-22 increased by 31.5%: ADR

NEW DELHI: The total donations to national parties during financial year 2021-22 rose by Rs 187.03 crore or 31.50 per cent from the previous fiscal, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.

The total donations (above Rs 20,000) declared by the national parties for 2021-22 was Rs 780.774 crore from 7,141 donations, it said.

The BJP received Rs 614 crore as donations in 2021-22, while the Congress got Rs 95 crore, according to poll reform body ADR.

"A total of Rs 614.63 crore from 4,957 donations was declared by the BJP, followed by Rs 95.46 crore from 1,255 donations declared by Congress.

The donations declared by the BJP are more than three times the aggregate declared by the Congress, NCP, CPI, CPM, NPEP and AITC for the same period," the ADR claimed.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) declared that it did not receive any donation above Rs 20,000 during 2021-22 as it has been declaring for the past 16 years, the ADR claimed.

The total donations of the national parties during 2021-22 rose by Rs 187.03 crore, an increase of 31.50 per cent from 2020-21.

Donations to the BJP rose from Rs 477.55 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 614.63 crore 2021-22, up 28.71 per cent, in a year, it claimed, adding that the party's donations had decreased by 41.49 per cent during FY 2020-21 in comparison to FY 2019-20.

The Congress' donations increased from Rs 74.52 crore during FY 2020-21 to Rs 95.46 crore during FY 2021-22 (28.09 per cent increase). It said Congress donations had decreased by 46.39 per cent between FY 2019-20 and FY 2020-21.

In comparison to the previous financial year, the decrease in donations declared by CPI(M) was 22.06 per cent (Rs 2.85 crore), and by the National People's Party was 40.50 per cent (Rs 24.10 lakhs), it said.

The segregation of donations according to state was made by ADR based on the addresses provided by the parties in their donations report to the Election Commission.

A total of Rs 395.85 crore was donated to national parties from Delhi, followed by Rs 105.3523 crore from Maharashtra and Rs 44.96 crore from Gujarat, it stated.

A total of Rs 12.26 crore (1.57 per cent of total donations received by national parties in FY 2021-22) could not be attributed to any state/Union Territory due to incomplete/undeclared information provided by the parties, it said.

A total of 2,551 donations to the national parties were made by corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 625.88 crore (80.16 per cent of total donations), while 4,506 individuals donated Rs 153.33 crore (19.64 per cent of total donations) to the parties during FY 2021-22, the ADR said.

A total of 2,068 donations from corporate/business sectors were made to the BJP (Rs 548.81 crore) while 2,876 individuals donated Rs 65.77 crore to the party during 2021-22, it said.

The Congress received a total of Rs 54.57 crore via 170 donations from corporate/business sectors and Rs 40.89 crore via 1085 individual donors during FY 2021-22, the ADR said.

The BJP (Rs 548.81 crore) received more than seven times the total amount (Rs 77.08 crore) of corporate donations declared by all other National parties for the FY 2021-22, it said.

The Prudent Electoral Trust donated a total of Rs 353 crore to the BJP and Congress together and is the top donor to parties that received the maximum amount.

The Trust donated Rs 336.50 crore to the BJP (54.75 per cent of total funds received by the party) and Rs 16.50 crore to the Congress (17.28 per cent of total funds received by the party), the ADR said.

Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Limited donated Rs 15 crore in one donation to the Congress, it claimed.

Pacific Exports donated Rs 10.50 crore in seven donations, Ab General Electoral Trust Rs 10 crore in two donations, Shreeji Shipping Rs 10.00 crore in one donation and Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital donated Rs 10 crore in 10 donations to BJP in 2021-22, the ADR claimed.