Bihar’s three regional parties earned a total donation of Rs83 crore during the last 10 years largely through unknown sources. RJD of lalu Prasad is the only party of whose major part of funding came through known sources.
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch (BEW) collected the figures through the Income-Tax returns of these parties. The JD(U) collected a total donation of Rs54.12 crore during this period while RJD earned Rs22.52 crore. Another party lJP of Ram Vilas Paswan had a donation of Rs6.73 crore.
The RJD claimed that it collected donations from known sources of income to the tune of over Rs16 crore as against its total income of Rs22.52 crore. The JD(U) out of its total income of Rs54.12 crore, received only Rs15 crore from known sources while Rs38.78 crore through unknown sources. lJP’s Rs6.73 crore is largely from unknown sources.
The JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar recently said that all donations to the political parties even if it is rupee one should be accountable. “At present, political parties are not required to reveal the name of individuals or organisations giving less than Rs20,000. As a result, over two-thirds of the funds cannot be traced and are from ‘unknown’ sources,” said the ADR and BEW report.