National parties reluctant to give details of donors

Notwithstanding their obligation to submit details of donations received above Rs.20,000, national political parties did not furnish details of 703 donors contributing Rs.11.14 crore in the 2012-13 financial year, an ADR report said.

"The name and address of a total of 43 donors who contributed Rs.29 lakh to the national parties is undeclared in the statements submitted by the parties," Association for Democratic Reforms said in a report.

It said the addresses of a total of 655 donors contributing Rs.10.84 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were left undeclared.

The Election Commission (EC) makes it binding on political parties to submit annual details of donations - name, address, PAN number of the donor besides the mode and amount of payment - received above Rs.20,000 from all over India.

The national political parties have turned a blind eye to the EC stipulation even as their total donations above Rs.20,000 stood at Rs.99.14 crore from 3,777 contributors.

The ADR report said 2,371 of 3,775 donors contributing Rs.37.64 crore have not furnished their PAN details. The BJP topped the list with 1,670 donors who have not declared their PAN number while contributing a maximum of Rs.25.99 crore.

The ADR report, which was based on IT returns and donation reports of the six national parties submitted in the financial year 2012-13, said the Congress had the maximum income, which stood at Rs.425.69 crore.

Of the total income of Rs.991.20 crore by national parties, the BJP stood second at Rs.324.16 crore.

The BSP, whose income stood at Rs.87.63 crore, declared it had not received any donation above Rs.20,000. It has declared the same since 2004-05.

According to the report, the NCP, CPI and CPI-M had an income of Rs.26.56 crore, Rs.1.07 and Rs.126.09 respectively.

The ADR report said corporate/business sector topped the list of contributions with 72 per cent or Rs.70.97 crore to the national parties followed by individual donations with 17 percent or Rs.17.01 crore.

"Eleven percent or Rs.11.14 crore was donated by those donors who cannot be traced by name or address," the report said.