BJP received donations thrice the aggregate declared by the Congress, the NCP, the CPI, the CPM and the AITC combined in 2015-16. Interestingly, the BJP’s kitty swelled more through fewer donors compared to the Congress, which had larger number of donations but lower contributions. The trend of the party in power raking in the moolah continues.
The BJP collected Rs 76.85 crore from 613 donations in 2015-16 while the Congress Rs 20.42 crore from 918 donations, a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) maintained.
According to the report, political parties received Rs 7,833 crore funding from unknown sources between 2004-05 and 2014-15, which is 69 per cent of their total income, with Congress and BJP witnessing maximum income from such sources.
“Total income of the party is increased by 2,057 per cent from Rs 5.19 crore to Rs 111.96 crore. The Congress has the highest total income of Rs 3,982.09 crore between 2004-05 and 2014-15, this is 42.92 per cent of the total income of the six parties during the same time. BJP has the second highest income of Rs 3,272.63 crore which is 35.27 per cent of the total income of the 6 national parties. Interestingly, total amount of donations above Rs 20,000 declared by the six national parties was Rs 1,405.19 crore. BJP tops the list and has declared a total of Rs 917.86 crore as received through voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000,” the report said.
Income of political parties from known donors was Rs 1,835.63 crore, which is 16 per cent of their total income. Also, total income of political parties from other known sources (sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy etc) stood at Rs 1,698.73 crore or 15 per cent.
As per the ADR report, during the 11 years, 83 per cent of total income of Indian National Congress (INC) amounting to Rs 3,323.39 crore and 65 per cent of total income of BJP amounting to Rs 2,125.91 crore came from unknown sources.
Among the regional parties, Rs 766.27 crore or 94 per cent of total income of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rs 88.06 crore or 86 per cent of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) came from unknown sources.
Income of national parties from unknown sources increased by 313 per cent, from Rs 274.13 crore during 2004-05 to Rs 1,130.92 crore during 2014-15, ADR said. Income of regional parties from unknown sources has also increased by 652 per cent from Rs 37.393 crore to Rs 281.01 crore.
According to report, SP has the highest total income of Rs 819.1 crore followed by DMK with Rs 203.02 crore and AIADMK with Rs 165.01 crore.