Over 90 per cent of the donations to national political parties in the year leading up to the Lok Sabha elections were from corporates, new data shows.
The one notable exception is the ruling BJP, which has not disclosed its donations nearly two months after the official deadline for disclosure.
The Association for Democratic Reforms analysed information in the donations reports submitted by all national parties except the BJP to the Election Commission of India by the deadline of October 31. Parties must declare all donations over Rs. 20,000 that they receive to the poll panel.
The Bahujan Samaj Party declared, as it has in past years, that it did not receive any donations over Rs. 20,000.
The Congress disclosed that it had received Rs. 60 crore in donations in the financial year 2013-14, of which Rs. 37 crore came from the Satya Electoral Trust formed by the Bharti Group. It also received Rs. 5 crore from the A.V. Patil Foundation and Rs. 2.5 crore from Bharat Forge Ltd. The NCP said that it received Rs. 14 crore and the CPI and CPI(M) Rs. 2 crore and Rs. 1.22 crore respectively.
All parties except the CPI(M) reported an increase in donations since 2012-13. Both Left parties’ biggest donors were party members. Over half of all declared political donations come from Delhi alone, with Maharashtra and Gujarat contributing another quarter.
“Ninety per cent of the donations being from corporates shows the increasing hold of the corporate sector on political parties which is somewhat disconcerting,” Jagdeep Chhokar, founder-trustee of ADR, said. “The ruling party not submitting its donation report is not a good sign as it possibly indicates a lack of respect for integrity of institutions which is not healthy for a democracy.”
