NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party received around Rs 2,244 crore in donations of over Rs 20,000 crore from individuals, trusts and corporate bodies in 2023-24, more than three times the contribution inflow in 2022-23. corresponds to Meanwhile, the Congress received Rs 288.9 million in 2023-24 under the same route against Rs 79.9 million in the previous year.
According to the contribution report of both parties for 2023-24, which is currently available on the EC website, the BJP received donations worth Rs 723.6 million from the Prudent Electoral Trust, which also gave the Congress Rs 156.4 million. He donated Rs. Simply put, in 2023-24, about a third of the BJP’s donations and more than half of the Congress’s donations came from the Prudent Electoral Trust. Top donors to Prudent in 2022-23 included Megha Engg & Infra Ltd, Serum Institute, Arcelor Mittal group, Bharti Airtel, etc.
Receipts of poll bonds are not included in donations of Bharatiya Janata Party and Cong.
The total donations declared by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress do not include receipts from electoral bonds, as the rules require political parties to declare this detail only in their annual audit reports and not in their contribution reports. Not included. The electoral bond system was invalidated by the Supreme Court in February 2024, and donations received directly or through the electoral trust route became the main source of funding for political parties.
However, some regional parties have voluntarily declared receipts through electoral bonds in their 2023-24 contribution reports. These include BRS, which received Rs 495.5 million in bonds. DMK received Rs 6,000 crore and YSR Congress received Rs 121.50 crore through the now defunct scheme. JMM declared income of Rs 11.5 million through bonds, while other contributions were just over Rs 64 million.
The BJP recorded a 212% year-on-year contribution increase in 2023-24, which is not unusual since it was the year before the general elections. In 2018-19, the year before the 2019 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party had declared contributions worth Rs 742 million and the Congress worth Rs 146.8 million.
The BJP received Rs 850 million through the electoral trust route, of which over Rs 723 million came from Prudent, Rs 127 million from Triumph Electoral Trust and Rs 17.2 billion from Einzigartig Electoral Trust. . The Congress received over Rs 156 million through the trust route, but Prudent was the only donor here.
Prudent also donated Rs 850 million and Rs 62.5 billion respectively to BRS and YSR Congress in 2023-2024, both of which were voted out of office in the same year. The TDP, which is currently the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh, received Rs 33 million from Prudent. DMK received Rs 8,000 crore from Triumph Electoral Trust and Jayabharath Trust.
Interestingly, the BJP announced a donation worth Rs 3,000 crore for 2023-2024 from Future Gaming and Hotel Services, a company owned by Santiago Martin, also known as India’s ‘Lottery King’. Future Gaming was the biggest donor through the electoral bond route, with Trinamool Congress being the biggest beneficiary. Mr. Martin is under surveillance by the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department on suspicion of money laundering.
Among other national parties, AAP has declared contributions worth Rs 11.1 billion for 2023-24, down from Rs 37.1 billion the previous year. The CPM contribution has increased from Rs 6.1 billion in 2022-23 to Rs 7.6 billion in 2023-24. The National People’s Party, which is in power in Meghalaya, has declared a donation of Rs 14.8 million. The BSP has again declared zero donations above Rs 20,000. BJD also declared zero donations for 2023-24.
The TDP has declared a contribution of over Rs 100 crore for 2023-24, compared to Rs 33 million the previous year, BJD zero and Samajwadi Party Rs 46.7 million.
