The ruling political party at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Party, received the most – Rs 705.81 crore out of Rs 956.77 crore – from 2,987 corporate donors between 2012-13 and 2015-16, according to analysis of known donations above Rs 20,000 from corporates and business houses to national parties by Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy. BJP was followed by the Indian National Congress with Rs 198.16 crore from 167 corporate donors.
Political parties considered by ADR included BJP, INC, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist). Bahujan Samaj Party led by Mayawati was not considered, as it declared that it received no voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 between 2012-13 and 2015-16.
As many as 1,933 donations – through which national parties received Rs 384.04 crore – did not have PAN details in the contribution form.
We storified a thread of tweets put out on August 18, 2017, to give you an idea of corporate donations to national parties in India between 2012-13 and 2015-16.
Follow our thread on the money that companies donated to national political parties between 2012-13 & 2015-16, acc to @adrspeaks. (1/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Political parties considered by @adrspeaks include BJP, INC, NCP, CPI and CPM which received donations >20K. (2/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
BSP not considered; it declared that it received no voluntary contributions >Rs 20K between 2012-13 & 2015-16. (3/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Business houses donated Rs 956.77 cr, or 89% of all donations to political parties from known sources. (4/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
BJP received most donations--Rs 705.81cr from 2,987 corp donors; INC next, Rs 198.16 cr from 167 corp donors. (5/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Between 2012-13 & 2015-16, BJP’s & INC’s voluntary contributions >Rs 20K from corporate/business houses was 92% & 85%. (6/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
CPI & CPM have the lowest share of corporate donations: 4% & 17%. (7/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
National parties received most corporate donations in 2014-15, during which Lok Sabha elections were held. (8/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Donations from corporates to national parties fell by 86.58% between 2014-15 & 2015-16. (9/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Satya Electoral Trust was the top donor to 3 national parties, btwn 2012-13 & 2015-16. (Despite not donating during 2012-13). (10/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Satya Electoral Trust donated money 35 times to political parties in 3 years, amounting to Rs 260.87 cr. (11/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
BJP received Rs 193.62 cr, INC Rs 57.25 cr and NCP Rs 10 cr from Satya Electoral Trust between 2012-13 & 2015-16.(12/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Associations/unions were the top donors to the communist parties. CPI received Rs 14.64 lakh, CPM Rs 1.09 cr. (13/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Trusts&conglomerates,with interests in mining,real-estate,power,newspapers etc,donated highest amt:₹419.69cr,btwn 2013-14 to 2015-16.(14/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
BJP (Rs 287.69cr), INC (Rs 129.16cr) & NCP (Rs 15.78cr) received most contributions from trusts & conglomerates. (15/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Real-estate sector was the biggest donor to the national parties during 2012-13, donating Rs 16.95 cr to the parties. (16/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
BJP received highest donations from all 14 sectors including Real-estate(₹105.20cr), Mining/ Construction/exports/imports(₹83.56 cr).(17/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
A total of 1,933 donations through which national parties received Rs 384.04 cr did not have PAN details in the contribution form. (18/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
National parties have received Rs 355.08 cr from 1,546 donations which do not have address details. (19/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
For 1,062 donations through which Rs 159.67cr received, there is neither PAN detail, nor address available. (20/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
99% of such donations without PAN and address details--worth Rs 159.59 cr--belong to the BJP. (21/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
Mode of payment is either incomplete or undeclared in 3,821 donations through which parties received Rs 806.25 cr. (22/22)
— IndiaSpend (@IndiaSpend) August 18, 2017
This article first appeared on Indiaspend, a data-driven and public-interest journalism non-profit.