BJP got 80% of total electoral bond funds in 5 years

National political parties in India have received Rs 3,807.83 crore as contributions in excess of Rs 20,000 from individual donors and entities between the financial years 2017-18 and 2021-22, and have witnessed a jump of 65 per cent during this period, official Election Commission data analysed by News18 shows. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is accountable for over 80 per cent of this contribution as it gathered Rs 3,057.03 crore in the last five years.

In 2017-18, national political parties received a contribution of Rs 469.89 crore through 4,201 donors. In 2021-22, this increased to Rs 778.73 crore through 7,018 donations, the ECI data shows.

The BJP has been the biggest receiver of the funds throughout these years and the party’s contribution has been above 75 per cent of the total funds each year. Also, BJP’s total contribution has increased by over 40 per cent – from Rs 437.04 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 614.52 crore in 2021-22.

There are eight national parties in India — BJP, Indian National Congress (INC/Congress), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC/TMC), and National People’s Party (NPP). Apart from the CPI, all the other seven parties’ contribution data has been updated for 2021-22.

NPP is the newest national party in India that earned this tag in June 2019. It has only declared its contribution for 2020-21 and 2021-22 worth Rs 0.94 crore.

Mayawati’s BSP has declared each year that it did not receive any funds in excess of Rs 20,000. This has been the BSP’s stand for more than one-and-a-half decades. It claims that it only gets funds from people with small earnings.

Between the financial years 2017-18 and 2021-22, Sharad Pawar’s NCP has got Rs 158.23 crore in excess of Rs 20,000 as contribution while for CPI(M) and TMC it was Rs 48.41 crore and Rs 53.39 crore, respectively, the data shows. The Congress has got Rs 484.22 crore as contributions during the period.

The analysis further shows that the amount received by the BJP during these financial years was more than four times of that collected by the remaining national parties.

The maximum contribution by national parties was received in 2019-20 – the year of the Lok Sabha elections. Collectively, national parties gathered Rs 1,013 crore that year as contributions in excess of Rs 20,000, with BJP alone getting Rs 785 crore.

Under the Representation of the People Act, political parties have to submit an annual report of contributions of over Rs 20,000 received from individual donors and entities. Apart from individuals and entities, electoral trusts also contribute to these parties’ total income.

With inputs from News18