BJP received Rs 477 crore worth of contributions in FY 21, Congress Rs 74.5 crore: ECI

According to the contribution reports of the two parties put in the public domain by the Election Commission Tuesday, the BJP received Rs 4,77,54,50,077 from various entities, electoral trusts, and individuals. The party had filed the contribution report for FY 2020-21 before the poll panel on March 14 this year.

According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Seven Electoral Trusts, which declared receiving contributions during 2020-21, said they had received a total amount of Rs 258.4915 crore from corporates and individuals and distributed Rs 258.4301 crore to various political parties. Out of these, the BJP received Rs 212.05 crore or 82.05 per cent of the total donations received by all parties from Electoral Trusts, the report noted.

Prudent Electoral Trust, among the largest electoral trusts, donated Rs 209.00 crore to the BJP, in contrast to the Rs 217.75 crore it contributed in 2019-20, while Jaybharath Electoral Trust donated Rs 2 crore of its total income to the BJP in 2020-21. Prudent Electoral Trust donated to seven political parties—the BJP, JDU, INC, NCP, RJD, AAP, and LJP.

In the financial year FY 2020, electoral bonds worth Rs 3,429.56 crore were redeemed by parties in 2019-20, and 87.29 per cent of this was received by four national parties – the BJP, Congress, TMC and the NCP, according to the ADR.

The ADR had said the BJP declared a total income of Rs 3,623.28 crore during the financial year 2019-20, but spent only 45.57 per cent (Rs 1,651.022 crore) of it while the Congress’ total income during the same period was Rs 682.21 crore. The party spent Rs 998.158 crore, which exceeds its income for that year by 46.31 per cent, it said.