New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party in its letter to the Election Commission, which is part of the sealed cover data unveiled by the Election Commission on its website, has said that as it was “not required to maintain the names and particulars of the donors of the Electoral Bonds and as such the Party has not maintained these particulars”. Consequently, the donors’ names are not listed but the bonds encashed are.
The Wire has accounted for the information it has given for the amounts it managed to scoop up before the last general election, and this amounts to approximately Rs 3962.71 crore. This is the amount it had available to spend on the last general election, exactly five years ago, in addition to funding from other sources.
That election was the most expensive that the world had witnessed, as per a study cited by Bloomberg; more expensive than the one held in the US which elected Donald Trump in 2016.
The total amount the BJP has recorded as receiving in FY 2017-18 is Rs 2,10,00,02,000. In FY 2018-19 it got Rs 14,50,89,05,000. In FY 2019-20 it got Rs 25,55,00,01,000. In FY 2020-21 it got Rs 22,38,50,000. In FY 2021-22 it got Rs 10,33,70,00,000. In FY 2022-23 it got Rs 2,94,14,99,000. In FY 2023-24 (until September 30, 2023) it got Rs 4,21,27,51,000.