BJP received 39.85 per cent of total donations received by all parties from Electoral Trusts
New Delhi, Feb 06: Out of the 21 registered Electoral Trusts, 15 trusts have been submitting copies of their contributions report to the Election Commission, consistently, since their registration.
Satya/Prudent Electoral Trust is the only trust to submit its annual report for all 6 years, FY 2013-14 to 2018-19, declaring contributions received each year, says a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
There are 8 such registered Electoral Trusts that have either declared not receiving any contributions or whose Contribution reports have not been available on the ECI website, at all, since their registration. Refer Detailed Report for complete list of Electoral Trusts and their status of submission of contribution reports.
Only one of 41 registered Unrecognised political parties eligible for donations: Report
As per the response received from the ECI, dated 2nd December, 2019, to ADR's RTI application on the updated list of Electoral Trusts, there are a total of 21 Electoral Trusts registered with the CBDT (registration of 4 Electoral Trusts namely, Bajaj Electoral Trust, Gauri Welfare Association Electoral Trust, Pratinidhi Electoral Trust and Bhartiya Socialist Republican Electoral Trust Association was not renewed), 15 of whom had submitted their contributions reports. Of these, only 5 Trusts declared receiving contributions from various corporate houses and individuals.
Contributions received and disbursed by Electoral Trusts during FY 2018-19:
According to the rules formulated by the Central Government, Electoral Trusts are required to distribute at least 95% of the total contributions received during the financial year along with the surplus brought forward from earlier financial year to the eligible political parties before 31st March of the said financial year.
5 Electoral Trusts which have declared receiving contributions during FY 2018-19, have received a total amount of Rs 252.0065 cr from corporates and individuals and distributed Rs 251.554 cr (99.82%) to various political parties.
Donations made by Electoral Trusts to Political Parties: FY 2018-19:
Prudent Electoral Trust donated Rs 67.25 cr to BJP, in contrast to Rs 154.30 cr contributed in FY 2017-18, while AB General Electoral Trust donated Rs 28 cr of its total income to BJP.
Janhit Electoral Trust made contributions to only 1 political party, of Rs 2.5 cr to BJP.
Prudent Electoral Trust donated to 11 political parties (including major parties like BJP, INC, NCP, AAP, BJD & YSR-C ) unlike in FY 2017-18 when it contributed to only three political parties.
BJP received donations over Rs 700 crore in 2018-19
BJP received Rs 100.25 cr or 39.85% of the total donations received by all political parties from Electoral Trusts.
INC received Rs 43 cr or 17.09% of the total donations received by all parties from AB General, Samaj and Prudent electoral trusts.
Other 12 political parties including BJD, NCP, SP, AAP, TDP, SHS etc. received a total of Rs 108.30 cr collectively.