Story in numbers: BJP gets highest corporate donation in 2019-20

Political parties every year are required to submit to the Election Commission of India the details of donors who have contributed above Rs 20,000 in a financial year (between April 1 and March 31).

Parties provide details of the name, address, PAN, mode of payment, and amount contributed by each donor who has made a donation above Rs 20,000 in their submission.

 

A 2014 report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), democracy watchdog, said various sectors of business houses in 8 years, between the financial year 2004-05 (FY05) and  FY12, donated a total of Rs 378.89 crore to national parties, constituting 87 per cent of the contribution from known sources of political parties.

Its latest report (published on  April 4) analyses donations from companies (abo­ve Rs 20,000) to national parties for FY20.

Political parties considered in this report are the Bharatiya Janata Party, Indian National Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and All India Trinamool Congress. The Bahujan Samaj Party has declared that it received no voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 from any donor since 2004. CPI did not declare any income from companies for FY20. AITC became a national party only in 2016.

National parties received the maximum corporate donations of Rs 921.95 cr in the FY 2019-20 (during which the 17th Lok Sabha elections were held), followed by Rs 881.26 cr in the FY 2018-19 and Rs 573.18 cr in the FY 2014-15 (during which the 16th Lok Sabha elections were held). Between FY 2012-13 and 2019-20, donations from corporate houses to national parties increased by 1024%, with a drop in the percentage of corporate donations in FY 2015-16.

Source: ADR