Political donations to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in contributions of Rs 20,000 and above from individuals, trusts, and corporate entities during the financial year 2023-24 stood six times higher than that of the Congress, contribution reports published by the Election Commission of India have revealed.
As per the reports, based on the submissions made by political parties under sub-section (3) of Section 29C of the Representation of People Act, 1951, the BJP received around Rs 2,244 crore in 2023-24 while the Congress received Rs 288.9 crore through similar channels during the period.
The figures during the previous years stood at Rs 742 crore for the BJP and Rs 79.9 crore for the Congress.
Who were the top donors?
One entity accounted for a third of the total donations to the BJP and over half of what the Congress received during the year. As per the report made available on the website of the Election Commission of India, the Prudent Electoral Trust donated Rs 723.6 crore to the BJP and Rs 156.4 crore to the Congress during 2023-24.
In 2022-23, Prudent’s top donors included Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Ltd, Serum Institute of India, ArcelorMittal Group, and Bharti Airtel.
The Triumph Electoral Trust stood second on the list of donors to the BJP with a donation of Rs 127.5 crore to the party during the period. The other major donors to the BJP included the ACME Solar Energy Pvt Limited with a contribution of Rs 51 crore, Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon Pvt Ltd, Derive Investments, Rungta Sons Pvt Ltd and Bharat Biotech International Ltd with contributions of Rs 50 crore each.
Among individuals, Pankaj Kumar Singh (Rs 15 crore), Ramesh Kunhikannan (Rs 12 crore), Sunil Vachani (Rs 10 crore) were the top three donors for BJP.
Other than the Prudent Electoral Trust, the top donors for the Congress included seven persons from Telangana — P Sudhanthi Reddy (Rs 2 crore), Jaya Chandra Reddy P (Rs 3 crore), Parupati Mahendas Reddy (Rs 3 crore), P Sujith Reddy (Rs 5 crore), P Sreenivas Reddy (Rs 5 crore), P Pushpleela Reddy (Rs 3 crore), P Charanraj Reddy (Rs 3 crore) — who contributed Rs 24 crore to the party.
Sanjay Bhajanka, Santosh Bhajanka and Sajjan Bhajanka contributed a total of Rs 10 crore to Congress. Among corporate firms, Classic Featherlite Waterfront Developers LLP of Bangalore contributed Rs 7 crore to Congress in three instalments while Kolkata-based Century Plyboard India Ltd of Kolkata donated Rs 5 crore to the party.
Donations to regional and other national parties
As per the electoral bond receipts voluntarily disclosed by some parties, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi received Rs 495.5 crore during the financial year 2023-24, the YSR Congress Rs 121.5 crore, the DMK Rs 60 crore, and the JMM Rs 11.5 crore, the EC report states.
Among national parties, the Aam Aadmi Party reported receiving Rs 11.1 crore in donations during 2023-24, down from Rs 37.1 crore in the previous year. Donations to the CPI(M) rose to Rs 7.6 crore from Rs 6.1 crore in 2022-23.
As per the EC report, the National People’s Party (NPP) in Meghalaya declared Rs 14.8 lakh in contributions, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) reported no donations exceeding Rs 20,000.
Meanwhile, the TDP disclosed over Rs 100 crore in contributions for 2023-24, while the Samajwadi Party reported Rs 46.7 lakh, down from Rs 33 crore the previous year. In contrast, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) declared zero contributions for the same financial year.
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