BJP’s funds flow swells through trusts after Supreme Court scraps electoral bonds

The donations via electoral trusts are only a part of total contributions received by parties.

The Supreme Court ruling last year that scrapped the electoral bond scheme did not affect the donations received by the BJP in the following financial year. Electoral trust alone disbursed over Rs 3,577 crore to the BJP.

According to the BJP’s Contribution Report for 2024-25, the year Lok Sabha elections were held, the party received Rs 6,088 crore, about 53 per cent higher than Rs 3,967 crore received in 2023-24. The report, submitted by the BJP on December 8, was published by the Election Commission last week.

The donations via electoral trusts are only a part of total contributions received by parties. The other sources include individuals, corporates, institutions and welfare bodies donating directly.

According to the report, the Rs 3,577.5 crore contribution receipts of BJP in 2024-25 though trusts, Rs 2,180.7 crore was disbursed by Prudent Electoral Trust (ET), Rs 757.6 crore by Progressive ET, Rs 460 crore by A B General ET, Rs 150 crore by New Democratic ET, Rs 30.1 crore by Harmony ET, Rs 21 crore by Triumph ET, Rs 5 crore by Jaybharath ET, Rs 3 crore by Samaj ET, Rs 9.5 lakh by Jankalyan ET and Rs 7.75 lakh by Einzigartig ET.

According to Indian Express, several companies figure among the BJP’s top 30 donors during 2024-25. These are: Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd (Rs 100 crore), Rungta Sons Private Limited (Rs 95 crore) and Vedanta Limited (Rs 67 crore). Other significant donors include Macrotech Developers Limited (Rs 65 crore), Derive Investments (Rs 53 crore), Modern Road Makers Pvt Ltd (Rs 52 crore) and Lotus Hometextiles Limited (Rs 51 crore).

Meanwhile, the Congress received Rs 216.3 crore from Prudent in 2024-25, Rs 77.3 crore from Progressive, Rs 15 crore from AB General ET, Rs 5 crore from New Democratic ET and Rs 9.5 lakh from Jan Kalyan ET. It means that the Congress received over Rs 313 crore of its total 517 crore contributions in 2024-25 via the trust route.

The BJP’s Contribution Report covers all individual donations over Rs 20,000. Corporates can make donations through cheque, Demand Draft or bank transfers to parties. The parties are required to declare these donations in their contribution reports and annual audit reports submitted to the poll panel.