BJP yet to give ECI details of donations above Rs 20,000

Due date for submission of parties' audited income-tax returns was October 31

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the only national party that has not yet given the Election Commission of India (ECI) details of its donation receipts above Rs 20,000 in 2013-14. Among the recognised regional ones, only 17 of the 45 parties have given reports on the donations received by them, says the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The Representation of the People Act, 1951, says “…the report for the financial year under sub-section (1) shall be submitted by the treasurer of a political party or any other person authorised by the political party in this behalf before the due date for furnishing a return of its income of that financial year under Section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), to the Election Commission.” Since the due date for submission of the parties’ audited income-tax returns was October 31, the BJP and 28 recognised regional parties have defaulted on their donation reports by more than a month. The Bharatiya Janata Party had declared the highest amount of Rs 83.19 crore from 2,941 donations during 2012-13.

The Association for Democratic Reforms also says the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) declared it had received no donations of above Rs 20,000 during 2013-14 and filed the report on September 13, while the Nationalist Congress Party filed its report on September 17 declaring receipts from 15 donors. The Communist Party of India filed its report on September 23, declaring receipt of donations above Rs 20,000 from 44 people. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPM and the Congress party on September 30 filed their reports, declaring receipts from 70 and 712 donors, respectively.

The Congress has not listed permanent account number (PAN) details of donors in its report. So, it will not be possible to follow the money trail. PAN is part of the Election Commission of India format for filing returns.

There were 182 donations to the Congress through bank transfers where the details of bank (name, location, etc) and the PAN details of donors were unavailable. Also, there were a total of 64 donations made to the party in cash that contained no details of PAN, so would remain untraceable.