New Delhi: Regional political parties received a lion’s share of donations from the electoral bonds scheme until it was banned by the Supreme Court in February last year, according to the annual audit report filed by parties with the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The audit reports of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress are not available on the ECI website. Notably, going by the electoral bonds details released last year, the BJP is understood to have raked in the highest donations from the scheme.
According to the audit reports of regional parties, between March 31, 2023, and February 15, 2024, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) received the highest contribution of Rs 612.4 crore via electoral bonds, while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) followed with Rs 495.5 crore from electoral bonds.
Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) declared 245.5 crore, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Rs 174.1 crore, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Rs 121.5 crore, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) received Rs 60 crore, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Rs 11.5 crore, while Sikkim Democratic Front received Rs 5.5 crore.
Among the six national parties in India, four parties – Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and National People’s Party (NPP) – submitted their audit reports on the ECI website.
Of them, only AAP declared donations via electoral bonds, albeit under a broader category. The party received Rs 10.1 crore through what it cited as electoral bonds/electoral trusts.
According to a report by The Times of India, electoral bonds accounted for 95% of the total income of TMC in 2023-24, 82% for BJD, 73% for JMM, 72% for BRS, 64% for YSRCP, 61% for TDP and 44% for AAP. Meanwhile, for DMK, 33% of the income was from electoral bonds, less than the previous year.
Also read: Peeling Back the Layers: Electoral Bonds and the Quest for Transparency
In terms of total income, BRS declared the highest among the regional parties at Rs 685.5 crore for 2023-24, followed by TMC at Rs 646.4 crore and BJD at Rs 297.8 crore. Meanwhile, YSRCP incurred an expenditure of Rs 295.8 crore in 2023-24, followed by BRS at Rs 254.9 crore.
Among national parties, BSP declared the highest income at Rs 64.8 crore,AAP at Rs 22.7 crore, NPP at Rs 22.4 lakh and CPM at Rs 16.8 lakh. The highest expenditure declared for the last fiscal was by BSP as well at Rs 43.2 crore.
Donations via electoral trusts
Meanwhile, according to the contributions report on the ECI website, Prudent Electoral Trust (PET) – the largest electoral trust in the country – received Rs 1,075.7 crore in FY24, flooded by corporate groups following the scrapping of electoral bonds. The donations by Prudent were distributed among six parties of which BJP received the lion’s share at Rs 723.7 crore. Congress received Rs 156.4 crore, BRS Rs 85 crore, YSRCP Rs 72.5 crore and TDP got 33 crore.
Also read: Firm Managing Delhi Airport Among Top Donors to an Electoral Trust Which Gave Lion’s Share to BJP
Although the ECI recognises 19 electoral trusts, contributions of only 14 are available on the ECI website, of which only five electoral trusts, including PET, received donations in FY24. The top donors to PET included ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India and DLF, each of which donated Rs 100 crore.
On February 15 last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the electoral bonds scheme was unconstitutional and ordered the banks to immediately cease issuing bonds. It also ordered the declaration of the details of the electoral bonds on the ECI website.
Unlike the anonymity offered by the electoral bonds scheme, electoral trusts need to declare every single contribution along with the name of the donor. The trusts are also required to name the political parties they are donating to and how much.
However, details about which corporate is donating how much to which party remains anonymous.
