New Delhi: Most political events in India noticed a big improve in donations in 2024-25 in comparison with the earlier yr, in accordance with Election Fee knowledge. The Lok Janshakti Occasion (Ram Vilas) led all political events with a rise of over 9,000 per cent in a yr, adopted by the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), which noticed a 2,766 per cent improve in donations in a yr. For Congress, contributions elevated by 81.7% within the final monetary yr.
Total, the Congress obtained Rs 590 million in contributions in 2024-25, up from Rs 280 million the earlier yr.
The most important contribution to Congress amounted to Rs 216 crore, adopted by contribution from the Prudent Electoral Belief at Rs 77.34 billion. In 2023-24, the Congress had obtained over Rs 150 crore from the Prudent Electoral Belief, the one belief that donated to the occasion that yr. Throughout this monetary yr, at the least 5 electoral trusts made donations to the occasion, totaling over Rs 313 million to the occasion.
Congress additionally obtained direct donations from companies. For instance, the corporate obtained Rs 1 billion from Hindustan Zinc Restricted, Rs 11.5 billion from ITC Infotech India Ltd, Rs 4 billion from ITC Restricted and Rs 5 billion from Century Plywoods (India) Restricted. Occasion chief P. Chidambaram donated Rs 300,000, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah donated Rs 250,000 to the occasion, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka every donated Rs 230,000 and Priyank Kharge donated Rs 200,000 to the occasion.
Contributions to the TMC have elevated from Rs 6.42 billion in 2023-24 to over Rs 184.96 billion in 2024-25 forward of the meeting elections scheduled subsequent yr.
The most important donation to the occasion got here from the Prudent Electoral Belief, amounting to Rs 92 billion. One other Rs 5,000 crore was from Kolkata-based Tiger Associates, the West Bengal regional distributor of Nagaland Lotteries, Sikkim Lotteries and Punjab Lotteries. The TMC additionally obtained Rs 10,000 crore from the Progressive Electoral Belief, which is managed by the Tata Group.
The Wise Electoral Belief is the richest electoral belief within the nation, in accordance with the Institute for Democratic Reform. It collects 90% of donations from companies to political events.
Though the Clever Electoral Belief contribution report for 2024-25 is but to be made public, the Progressive Electoral Belief donated a complete of round Rs 915 million to 10 political events in 2024-25.
This yr marks the primary full yr because the electoral bond system was struck down by the Supreme Court docket.
Forward of the Bihar elections, the Lok Janshakti Occasion (Ram Vilas) obtained Rs 11.09 billion, a rise of 9403 per cent from Rs 11.67 billion in 2023-24.
The Janata Dal (United) has declared a complete contribution of Rs 18.6 billion, a rise of 90% in opposition to the Rs 1.81 billion it obtained in 2023-24.
Within the election, the Nationwide Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising JD(U), BJP, Lok Janshakti Occasion (Ram Vilas) and others, achieved a landslide victory.
Forward of the Tamil Nadu polls scheduled for 2026, the DMK additionally declared a 350 per cent leap in contributions, rising from Rs 81.5 billion in 2023-24 to Rs 365 million in 2024-25.
The Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP) obtained over Rs 11,000 crore in donations within the final monetary yr, however in 2024-25, there was a 245 per cent leap in donations and it obtained over Rs 38,000 crore in donations.
AAP’s highest donation got here from the Prudent Electoral Belief, amounting to Rs 16.4 million, over 50 per cent of the overall donations. Different donations ranged from a number of Rs 100 donations by particular person donors to donations amounting to a whole bunch of hundreds of rupees by particular person donors throughout the nation. It additionally obtained over Rs 30 million from Karnataka-based microfinance establishment Bharatha Swamukti Samsthe.
Donation to BJP
Though the donation report back to the Bharatiya Janata Occasion has not been made public but, out of the overall donation of Rs 915 million by the Progressive Electoral Belief, Rs 757.6 million was donated to the Bharatiya Janata Occasion. The BJP additionally obtained Rs 150 crore from the New Democratic Electoral Belief, Rs 30 billion from the Concord Electoral Belief, Rs 21 billion from the Triumph Electoral Belief, Rs 9.5 billion from the Jan Kalyan Electoral Belief and Rs 7.7 billion from the Einzigartig Electoral Belief.
Within the final monetary yr, the BJP obtained donations of over Rs 2,244 crore. This contains round Rs 723 million from the Prudent Electoral Belief, Rs 127.5 million from the Triumph Electoral Belief and over Rs 17 million from the Einzigartig Electoral Belief.
The Progressive Electoral Belief additionally donated Rs 100 crore every to the TMC, Yuvajana Sramika Ryuthu Congress Occasion, Shiv Sena, Biju Janata Dal, Bharat Rashtra Samiti, Lok Janshakti Occasion (Ram Vilas), Janata Dal (United) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
The All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Bahujan Samaj Occasion declared that that they had not obtained any donations exceeding Rs 20,000.
(Edited by Vinny Mishra)
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