Real estate companies go aggressive on political funding in India

BJP has been the biggest beneficiary of direct donations and payments through electoral trusts

In 2017-18, the latest year for which Election Commission of India (ECI) figures are available, the Prudent Electoral Trust, the biggest and richest electoral trust in India (formerly called Satya Electoral Trust), donated Rs 169 crore to various political parties. This was more than any of the 29 electoral trusts registered in India.

The Prudent Electoral Trust, to which Bharti group contributed the most, donated more than 90 per cent of this money, or almost Rs 154 crore, to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone. The Congress received Rs 10 crore, while Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal got Rs 5 crore. At least a third of the money to Prudent Electoral Trust was contributed by real estate companies.

A look at ECI statistics shows that one of the most high-profile real estate companies that donated to the Prudent Electoral Trust in 2017-18 was the DLF group. DLF Limited, DLF Home Developers and DLF Luxury homes together contributed Rs 52 crore between October 2017 and January 2018. In 2016-17, the DLF group had contributed an equal amount to this trust. The other big real estate companies that contributed to this trust in 2016-17 was the Mumbai-based Indiabulls group, with payments of Rs 8.5 crore, and the Piramal group and its associate companies. That year the trust had contributed almost Rs 284 crore to political parties — primarily the BJP. Real estate companies made up almost Rs 75 crore of these contributions.

While big real estate companies contributed through this trust along with others, there were many small and big real estate companies that directly funded the BJP. A look at BJP’s contribution reports filed with ECI shows that some of the other big builders that donated directly to the saffron party were the Raheja group and Ansal group, which donated Rs 2 crore and Rs 50 lakh, respectively, during the year. There are numerous instances of small builders from across India contributing various amounts — from a few thousands to lakhs of rupees — to the BJP. In 2017-18 alone, the BJP received Rs 438 crore from all declared sources. The Congress received Rs 27 crore during the year. Most of the donations to the Congress were from its own party leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Kamal Nath, Manmohan Singh, Oscar Fernandes and Jyotiraditya Scindia. A notable real estate company that donated to the party was Gayatri Projects, which itself is promoted by Congress leader T Subbarami Reddy. Gayatari Projects contributed Rs 9.2 crore to the Congress in 2017-18.

While the Prudent Electoral Trust was the biggest contributor among all trusts, there also were some others that funded political parties. The AB Electoral Trust of the Aditya Birla group contributed Rs 21.5 crore, more than half of it, to the BJP. The BJD got Rs 8 crore, while the Congress unit in Gujarat was given Rs 1 crore by the AB Electoral Trust. Most of the donations to the trust were made by Aditya Birla group companies like Grasim Industries and Hindalco. The Triumph Electoral Trust of the Murugappa group gave Rs 2 crore equally to the BJP and the Congress during the year.