BJP received whopping Rs. 477 crore in donations in 2020-21
What's the story
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received Rs. 477.5 crore in donations in 2020-21, while the Indian National Congress (INC) got Rs. 74.50 crore, according to the annual contribution report made public by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday. Both parties received these contributions from individuals and business houses. The BJP and the Congress received contributions from 2,206 and 1,059 donors, respectively.
Context
Why does this story matter?
All parties have to mandatorily declare contributions to the Election Commission (EC) received in excess of Rs. 20,000, according to the provisions of the election law. The political parties receive donations from individuals as well as business houses. The State Bank of India also issues electoral bonds by which people can make contributions to political parties.
Contributions
BJP got 85% more donations than Congress
The BJP received almost 85% more contributions than Congress. The BJP had filed the FY 2020-21 contribution report before the EC on March 14 this year. In 2019-20 as well, the BJP had trumped other political parties in terms of receiving corporate and individual donations. While it had received Rs. 785.77 crore, the Congress had merely got Rs. 139.01 crore.
Other parties
Trinamool Congress received Rs. 42.51 crore from 26 donors
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress received Rs. 42.51 crore from 26 donors. As many as 79 donors contributed Rs. 26.26 crore to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The Communist Party of India (Marxist) received Rs. 12.85 crore from 226 donors. However, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party declared zero contributions over Rs. 20,000 consecutively for two years now.
Data
BJP's donations more than thrice that of other parties combined
This year, all national parties received more than Rs. 633.66 crore (above Rs. 20,000) in donations. In the financial year 2019-20, the total contribution (above Rs. 20,000) was Rs. 1,013.805 crore from 6,363 donations. According to the Association of Democratic Reforms, the BJP declared donations more than three times the aggregate of other major national parties combined in 2019-20.