Corporate donations: BJP got Rs 705 cr, Cong Rs 198 cr in 4 years, says ADR

Total of Rs 956.77 cr was donated by all corporate houses to 5 national parties during this period

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received a whopping Rs 705.81 crore from 2,987 corporate donors between financial years 2012-13 and 2015-16, a report by election watch body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) revealed on Thursday.

A total of Rs 956.77 crore was donated by all corporate/business houses to five national parties during this period, the report said, noting that while the BJP was the highest recipient, the Congress was a distant second with Rs 198.16 crore from 167 corporate donors.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have received the lowest share of corporate donations at 4 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, said the report which considered the BJP, the Congress, the CPI-M, the CPI, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), though a recognised national party, was not considered for analysis in the report as "the party has declared that it received no voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 from any donor between FY 2012-13 and FY 2015-16".

The report also disclosed that a total of 1,933 donations through which national parties received Rs 384.04 crore do not have PAN details in the contribution form. Also, the parties have received Rs 355.08 crore from 1,546 donations which do not have address details in the contribution form.

Interestingly, 99 per cent of such donations without PAN and address details worth Rs 159.59 crore went to the BJP.

The national parties received the maximum corporate donations in 2014-15, during which Lok Sabha elections were held, at 60 per cent of the total donations of the four years.

Satya Electoral Trust emerged as the top donor to three national parties between FY 2012-13 and 2015-16 with a total donations of Rs 260.87 crore, which it did in 35 installments in three years (the Trust did not donate during FY 2012-13).

The BJP declared receiving Rs 193.62 crore from the Trust, while the Congress got Rs 57.25 crore. The NCP got Rs 10 crore from it during the same period.

The General Electoral Trust, formed before the Electoral Trust Scheme was launched by the government in 2013, was the second highest corporate donor to BJP and Congress with donations of Rs 70.70 crore and Rs 54.10 crore to them respectively.

The top donors to the CPI-M and CPI were "associations" or "unions". The CPI-M got Rs 1.09 crore from seven different associations while CPI got Rs 14.64 lakh from 15 different associations/unions.

The real-estate sector was the biggest donor to the national parties during FY 2012-13, contributing a total amount of Rs 16.95 crore. The BJP received the highest contribution of Rs 15.96 crore followed by Congress with Rs 95 lakh and the CPI-M with Rs 4 lakh.

Trusts and Groups of Companies with varied interests in mining, real estate, power, newspapers etc donated the highest amount of Rs 419.69 crore in their period. The manufacturing sector was the second highest overall contributor, contributing a total of Rs 123.67 crore, the report revealed.