Corporate houses donated Rs 956 crore to national parties in 4 years: Report

Corporate houses have donated a total of Rs 956.77 crore to national parties between 2012-13 and 2015-16, constituting 89 per cent of the total contribution from known sources, with BJP receiving the maximum Rs 705.81 crore, says a report.

Among the national parties, BJP received the maximum donations of Rs 705.81 crore from 2,987 corporate donors followed by INC (Indian National Congress) which received Rs 198.16 crore from 167 corporate donors, the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said today, citing filings of political parties made to the Election Commission.

NCP received Rs 50.73 crore, followed by CPM (Rs 1.89 crore) and CPI (Rs 0.18 crore).

BSP was not considered for analysis in the report as the party has declared that it received no voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 from any donor between 2012-13 and 2015-16.

“Between 2012-13 and 2015-16, five national parties received a total of Rs 1,070.68 crore via voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 out of which 89 per cent of Rs 956.77 crore was from corporates/business houses,” ADR said.

According to an earlier report by ADR, various business houses donated a total of Rs 378.89 crore to national parties, constituting 87 per cent of the total contribution from known sources in eight years, between financial years 2004-05 and 2011-12.

Political parties are required to submit details of donors who have made donations above Rs 20,000 in a financial year to the Election Commission of India, every year.

Between 2012-13 and 2015-16, BJP’s and INC’s voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 from corporate/business houses was 92 per cent and 85 per cent, respectively, the report said.

CPI and CPM have the lowest share of corporate donations at 4 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively.

National parties received the maximum corporate donations in 2014-15, during which Lok Sabha elections were held, the report by the Delhi-based ADR said.

Corporate donations received in 2014-15 alone form 60 per cent of the total corporate donations received between 2012-13 and 2015-16, it added.

It further said that donations from corporates to national parties reduced by 86.58 per cent between 2014-15 and 2015-16.

“Despite not donating during 2012-13, Satya Electoral Trust was the top donor to three of the national parties, between 2012-13 and 2015-16. The Trust donated a total of 35 number of times in 3 years, amounting to Rs 260.87 crore” ADR said.

BJP declared receiving Rs 193.62 crore while INC was the recipient of Rs 57.25 crore of funds from the Trust.

General Electoral Trust, which was formed before the Electoral Trust Scheme was launched by the government in 2013, was the second highest corporate donor to BJP and INC. Between 2012-13 and 2015-16, the Trust donated Rs 70.7 crore and Rs 54.1 crore to the two national parties, respectively, ADR said.

The top donors to the Communist parties were ‘Associations’ or ‘Unions’. CPI received a total of Rs 14.64 lakh from 15 different associations/unions while CPM received a total of Rs 1.09 crore from seven different associations.

Contributions from corporate/business houses have been divided into 14 sectors by ADR and does not form a part of the submission made by parties to ECI. The sectors include Trusts and group of companies, manufacturing, oil and power, mining, construction, exports/imports, real estate, among others.

Real estate sector was the biggest donor to the national parties during 2012-13, contributing Rs 16.95 crore.

Trusts and groups of companies with varied interests in mining, real estate, power and newspapers, among others, donated the highest amount of Rs 419.69 crore, between 2013-14 to 2015-16, to the national parties.

BJP, INC and NCP, all three received the maximum contributions from Trusts and group of companies. BJP received the highest, Rs 287.69 crore from Trusts and group of companies, followed by INC (Rs 129.16 crore) and NCP (Rs 15.78 crore).

BJP received the highest donations from all 14 sectors including real estate (Rs 105.20 crore), mining, construction, exports/imports (Rs 83.56 crore), chemicals/pharmaceuticals (Rs 31.94 crore), among others.

As per the report, a total of 1,933 donations through which national parties received Rs 384.04 crore do not have PAN details in the contribution form.

National parties have received Rs 355.08 crore from 1,546 donations which do not have address details in the contribution form, it added.

“99 per cent of such donations without PAN and address details worth Rs 159.59 crore belong to BJP,” the report alleged.

Political parties reported receiving 262 donations worth Rs 10.48 crore from such corporate entities who have zero internet presence or if they do, there is ambiguity about the nature of their work, ADR said.