India News: Electoral Bonds Form over Half of Donations to Political Parties: Report
New Delhi, Jul 11 (PTI) – According to a report by think tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), more than half of all donations received by political parties between 2016-17 and 2021-22 in India were made through Electoral Bonds. The report also revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received more funds than all other national parties combined during the same period.
Between 2016-17 and 2021-22, donations worth approximately Rs 16,437 crore were received by the seven national parties and 24 regional parties in India. Out of this amount, Rs 9,188.35 crore, which accounts for around 56 percent, were received through Electoral Bonds.
The report further stated that the BJP declared donations totaling Rs 10,122.03 crore, followed by the Congress with Rs 1,547.43 crore, and the Trinamool Congress with Rs 823.30 crore.
The donations received by the BJP were more than three times the total donations received by all the other national parties combined.
Out of the total donations, Rs 4,614.53 crore (approximately 28 percent) originated from the corporate sector, while Rs 2,634.74 crore (around 16.03 percent) came from other sources.
The ADR highlighted that more than 80 percent of the donations, around Rs 13,190.68 crore, were received by the national parties, while the remaining Rs 3,246.95 crore (19.75 percent) were received by regional parties.
Donations through electoral bonds to national parties saw a surge of 743 percent between 2017-18 and 2021-22, whereas corporate donations registered a 48 percent increase.
The year of the general elections in 2019-20 witnessed the highest donations amounting to Rs 4,863.50 crore, followed by Rs 4,041.48 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 3,826.56 crore in FY 2021-22.
The BJP, which received three times more donations than all other national parties combined, obtained around 52 percent of its funds through Electoral Bonds, with corporate houses contributing approximately 32 percent.
Interestingly, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) received 100 percent of their donations from other sources, which do not require disclosure of the donor’s details if the amount is below Rs 20,000.
Among the regional parties, more than 89.81 percent of the donations received by the BJD originated from Electoral Bonds worth Rs 622 crore. The DMK declared the second-highest donations from bonds, amounting to Rs 431.50 crore, followed by the TRS with Rs 383.65 crore and the YSR-C with Rs 330.44 crore.
The report also revealed that the direct corporate donations declared by the seven national parties exceeded the corporate donations declared by 31 regional parties by over five times during the six-year period.
The direct corporate donations declared by regional parties witnessed a growth of approximately 152 percent in the same period.
In conclusion, the report by ADR shed light on the significant role of Electoral Bonds in contributing to political party financing in India. The BJP emerged as the party with the highest total donations, receiving more funds than all other national parties combined. The findings bring attention to the increasing influence of corporate contributions in Indian politics.
