BJP reports income of Rs 1,034 crore, 4.6 times that of Congress

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reported an income of Rs 1,034.27 crore, which is 4.6 times that of the Congress’ figure, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The ADR report says the BJP received Rs 532.27 crore in donations above Rs 20,000 in 2016-17, which is more than 12 times the amount Congress received in similar donations.

The total donations, above Rs 20,000, declared by all the national parties was Rs 589.38 crore that was received from 2,123 donors, the report suggests. The donation made to national parties have risen by 478 percent, from the previous financial year of 2015-16.

A total of Rs 290.90 crore was donated to national political parties from Delhi, followed by Rs 112.31 crore from Maharashtra and Rs 20.22 crore from Uttar Pradesh.

Growth in donations from FY16 to FY17

The total donations received by national parties during FY 2016-17 swelled by Rs 487.36 crore from what was Rs 102.02 crore in FY 2015-16.

Donations to BJP increased from Rs 76.85 crore in FY16 to Rs 532.27 crore in FY17 while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) declared an increase of donations from Rs 71 lakh in FY16 to Rs 6.34 crore in FY17.

The All India Trinamool Congress saw its donations increase by 231 percent. It’s political rival Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Congress saw 190 percent and 105 percent growth in donations respectively from FY16 to FY17, the report has said.

Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) declared that it did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY17. It has done so for the past 11 years.

Donations from corporates, individuals

As many as 708 corporates and businesses made donations to national parties which amounted to Rs 563.24 crore. The amount makes up to 95.56 percent of the total donations received by various parties. Out of these 708 donations, 531 amounting to Rs 515.43 crore were made to the BJP. The Congress received a total of Rs 36.06 crore from 98 corporates.

There were 1,354 individual donors who together donated Rs 25.07 crore to the parties during FY17. As many as 663 individual donors donated Rs 16.82 crore to the BJP during FY 2016-17 while 501 individuals donated Rs 5.84 crore to the Congress during this period, the report adds.

The ADR report is based on statistics collected from the income tax declarations filed by the political parties.

According to the law, political funding laws in the country can be done anonymously for donations below Rs 20,000. Therefore, declared donations above this amount are taken as a representation of genuine corporate political funding.