Big 4 political parties mop up 50% of donation through electoral bonds

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More than half of the income of four national political parties in 2021-22 was from donations through electoral bonds, an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed.

The BJP topped the list with Rs 1,033.70 crore donation as electoral bonds, while the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) received Rs 528.143 crore. The Indian National Congress received Rs 236.0995 crore and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) received Rs 14.00 crore.

Together, the four national parties collected Rs 1,811.9425 crore through electoral bonds, the election watchdog said in its statement after analysing the data.

“Four national parties, including the BJP, AITC, INC and the NCP, collected 55.09 percent of their total income from donations through electoral bonds for financial year 2021-22,” ADR confirmed.

In 2021-22, eight national parties, including the BJP, INC, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), NCP, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M), AITC and the National People’s Party (NPEP) had an income of Rs 980.26 crore from donations and contributions.

The BJP had the highest income of Rs 1,917.12 crore during financial year 2020-21. The amount forms 58.28 percent of the total income of eight national parties during the financial year, said ADR.

The income of AITC increased by 633.36 percent from Rs 74.417 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 545.745 crore in FY22. For the Congress, the income jumped 89.41 percent from Rs 285.765 crore to Rs 541.275 crore in the same period.