The total donations (above Rs 20,000) declared by the National parties for FY 2023-24 were Rs 2544.278 crore from 12,547 donations. Among them, a total of Rs 2243.947 crore from 8,358 donations was declared by BJP, followed by Rs 281.48 crore from 1,994 donations declared by Congress (INC). The donations declared by BJP are more than six times the aggregate declared by INC, AAP, NPEP and CPI(M) in this period.

This was revealed in a report, prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), on donations above Rs 20,000, received by the national political parties during the financial year 2023-24, as per details submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The national parties include Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M) and National People’s Party (NPEP).

The reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-of-donations-declared-by-National-Parties-FY-2023-24

Highlights of the report:

The due date for submission of contribution reports for the parties was 30 September 2024.

Only BSP and AAP submitted their contribution reports on time while NPEP, INC, BJP and CPI(M) submitted after a delay of 23 days, 27 days, 42 days, and 43 days respectively. BSP, however, declared that it did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2023-24, as it has been declaring for the past 18 years.

Comparison of donations received by National parties during FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24

- The total donations of the National parties during FY 2023-24 increased by Rs 1693.84 cr, an increase of 199.17% from the previous financial year 2022-23.

- Donations to the BJP increased from Rs 719.858 cr in FY 2022-23 to Rs 2,243.947 cr in FY 2023-24, marking a 211.72% increase. Similarly, donations to the INC rose from Rs 79.924 cr in FY 2022-23 to Rs 281.48 cr in FY 2023-24, reflecting a 252.18% increase.

- In comparison to the previous financial year, donations declared by AAP decreased by 70.18% or Rs 26.038 cr, while donations declared by NPEP decreased by 98.02% or Rs 7.331 cr.
State-wise donations to National Parties, FY 2023-24

Segregation of donations according to state was made by ADR based on the addresses provided by the parties in their donations report to the ECI.

- A total of Rs 989.20 cr was donated to the National Parties from Delhi, followed by Rs 404.512 cr from Gujarat and Rs 334.079 cr from Maharashtra.

- A donation of Rs 7000 from a donor from United States has been made to AAP.

- A total of Rs 6.062 cr (0.238% of total donations received by the National parties, FY 2023-24) could not be attributed to any State/ Union Territory due to incomplete/undeclared information provided by the parties.

Donors from corporates/business sectors Vs. individual donors

- 3755 donations to the National parties were made by corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 2262.5537 cr (88.9271% of total donations) while 8493 individual donors donated Rs 270.872 cr (10.6463% of total donations) to the parties during FY 2023-24.

- 3478 donations from corporate/business sectors were made to BJP (Rs 2064.58 cr) while 4628 individual donors donated Rs 169.126 cr to the party during FY 2023-24.

- INC received a total of Rs 190.3263 cr via 102 donations from corporate/business sectors and Rs 90.899 cr via 1882 individual donors during FY 2023-24.

- BJP (Rs 2064.58 cr) received more than nine times the total amount (Rs 197.9737 cr) of corporate donations declared by all other National parties for FY 2023-24.
Top donors to National Parties, FY 2023-24

- Prudent Electoral Trust donated a total of Rs 880.0775 cr to BJP and INC together and is the top donor to parties that received the maximum donations. The Trust donated Rs 723.675 cr to BJP (32.25% of total funds received by the party) and Rs 156.4025 cr to INC (55.56% of total funds received by the party).

- Triumph Electoral Trust donated Rs 127.50 cr from 4 donations to BJP and Derive Investments donated Rs 50 cr to BJP and Rs 3.20 cr to INC.

- Acme Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd. donated Rs 51 cr through 5 donations, Bharat Biotech International Limited donated Rs 50 cr through 1 donation, Rungta Sons Private Limited donated Rs 50 cr through 1 donation, and Dinesh Chandra R. Agarwal Infracon Pvt. Ltd. donated Rs 30 cr through 1 donation to BJP in FY 2023-24

ADR’s Observations
1. NPEP, INC, BJP and CPI(M) submitted their contribution reports after a delay of 23 days, 27 days, 42 days and 43 days, respectively.

2. Four National parties, BJP, INC, NPEP and CPI(M) had not declared PAN details of 889 donations through which the parties collected a total of Rs 19.884 cr (0.782% of the total donations declared by National parties).

3. Three national parties (INC- Rs 73.90 lakhs, BJP-Rs 51.70 lakhs and CPI(M)- Rs 33 lakhs) have declared Rs 1.586 cr from 84 donations having missing/incorrect PAN details.

4. BJP declared 1564 donations of Rs 1384.602 cr, INC collected 536 donations worth Rs 244.571 cr, AAP collected 168 donations of Rs 5.325 cr, CPI(M) collected 286 donations of Rs 4.547 cr and NPEP collected 1 donation of Rs 5 lakhs having incomplete cheque/DD details where cheque number, bank details on which it was drawn and the date on which the cheque was received/ encashed is not provided. Thus, without the complete cheque/DD details, it would be a time-consuming process to link the donors against their donations and hence, trace the money trail.

5. As done for the last 18 years, BSP has remarkably declared again that the party did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000.

6. On comparing the annual report of Prudent Electoral Trust and the contributions report of BJP for FY 2023-2024, ADR observed that the trust’s report declared contributing 31 donations worth Rs 723.785 cr to BJP, however in the party’s report, 30 donations worth Rs 723.675 cr are declared from Prudent Electoral Trust.

7. Additionally, according to the annual report of FY 2023-24 of Jaybharath Electoral Trust, it donated Rs 5 cr to BJP. However, the contribution report of BJP for the same financial year does not mention this contribution, as noted by ADR at the time of preparation of this report.
 
ADR’s Recommendations
1. The Supreme Court gave a judgment on September 13, 2013 declaring that no part of a candidate’s affidavit should be left blank. Similarly, no part of the Form 24A submitted by political parties providing details of donations above Rs 20,000 should be blank.

2. All donors who have donated a minimum of Rs 20,000 as a single or multiple donations should provide their PAN details.

3. Introducing a provision where in individual or a company cannot contribute multiple small donations exceeding a total of Rs 20,000 in a financial year, so that parties are not able to bypass the reporting requirement despite receiving a larger overall sum from the same donor.

4. Full details of all donors should be made available for public scrutiny under the RTI. Some countries where this is done include Bhutan, Nepal, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, Bulgaria, the US and Japan. In none of these countries is it possible for nearly 50% of the source of funds to be unknown, but at present it is so in India.

5. The National parties should, ideally, lead by example by filing complete and correct statements of donations to the ECI well in time for public scrutiny so as to encourage financial transparency.

6. It is suggested that the ECI publicize on its website details of the action taken (if any) against political parties that fail to provide required details (such as name, address, PAN and mode of payment) of individuals, companies or entities making donations in cash.

7. Incomplete contributions reports having missing or incorrect PAN/mode of payment details must be returned to the parties by the ECI, to deter them from providing incomplete information.

8. The national and regional political parties must provide all information on their finances under the Right to Information Act. This will go a long way in strengthening political parties, elections and democracy.

9. Annual scrutiny of donations reports of National, Regional and unrecognized parties should be initiated by a dedicated department of the CBDT, to discourage donations from shell companies or illegal entities.

10. Reporting and disclosure procedures must be strengthened to ensure that financial reports are audited independently and made publicly available in a timely manner. The development of an online reporting and disclosure platform can improve efficiency and transparency. Provide status updates on the submission of party reports showing which all registered parties submitted on time, which delayed their submission and those which defaulted, including the action taken against such parties by the Commission or other relevant authority.

11. Corporations should make details of their political contributions available in the public domain through their websites (in annual reports or on a dedicated page) for increasing transparency in political financing.

[The image: Courtesy Anil Kaushik: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BJP_Office_in_New_Delhi_-_panoramio.jpg]