The income of seven national parties from “unknown sources” during 2016-17 was Rs 710.80 crore, while total donations (above Rs 20,000) declared by them stood at Rs 589.38 crore, with BJP receiving Rs 532.27 crore from 1,194 donations. 

Donations declared by BJP is more than nine times the amount put together by Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) for the same period. The Congress on the other hand said it got a sum of Rs 41.90 crore from 599 donations.

According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which focused on donations above Rs 20,000 received by the national political parties, during the financial year 2016-17, the total donations (above Rs 20,000) declared by the national parties was Rs 589.38 crore, from 2,123 donations.

“A total of Rs 532.27 crore was declared by BJP from 1,194 donations while Congress declared receiving Rs 41.90 crore from 599 donations,” it said.

As it had been declaring for the past 11 years, BSP again declared that the party did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2016-17.  The report has also noted that the total income of the seven national parties from unknown sources for 2016-17 was Rs 710.80 crore, which makes for about 45.59 per cent of the total income of the parties from all over India.

“Total donations of national parties during 2016-17 increased by Rs 487.36 crore from Rs 102.02 crore during the previous financial year 2015-16,” it said.

The report says donations to BJP increased from Rs 76.85 crore during 2015-16 to Rs 532.27 crore in 2016-17, while that of NCP increased from Rs 71lakh in 2015-16 to Rs 6.34 crore in 2016-17.

Also, donations to AITC increased by 231 per cent, CPM and Congress have declared an increase of 190 per cent and 105 per cent,  respectively, as per their donation reports for 2015-16 and 2016-17, while that of CPI decreased by 9 per cent, it said.

The total income of national parties for 2016-17 was Rs 1,559.17 crore.

Total income of national parties from known donors (details of donors as available from contribution report submitted by the parties to Election Commission) was Rs 589.38 crore, which is 37.8 per cent of the total income of the seven national parties in 2016-17, the report said.

Satya Electoral Trust donated a total of Rs 265.12 crore to BJP and Congress and is one of the top two donors to the two parties. The Trust donated Rs 251.22 crore to BJP and Rs 13.90 crore to INC, the report said.

Among state-wise donations to national parties, a total of Rs 290.90 crore was donated from Delhi, followed by Rs 112.31 crore from Maharashtra and Rs 20.22 crore from Uttar Pradesh, it added.