New Delhi, December 26
The ruling party in the country, BJP, has received over Rs 2,604.74 crore in donations during 2023-24, while the opposition party Congress has received Rs 281.38 crore. This information has been given in the donation report of both the parties made public by the Election Commission.
The donations listed in the report were received up to 31 March 2024 before the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP had announced donations of over Rs 740 crore before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, while the Congress claimed to have received over Rs 146 crore in 2018-19. According to this, during 2023-24, the BJP received over Rs 723 crore in donations from the Prudential Electoral Trust, over Rs 127 crore from the Triumph Electoral Trust and over Rs 17 lakh from the Inzigartig Electoral Trust.
According to the report, the Congress received a donation of over Rs 150 crore from the Prudential Electoral Trust, which was the only trust to donate to the party. Interestingly, the Congress received a donation of Rs 1.38 lakh, which includes donations from other top leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, KC Vainugopal and Digvijay Singh. Several donations were made to the Congress under the title ‘Hamare Neta Ko Happy Birthday – JKB’. Donations declared by the BJP and Congress do not include donations received through electoral bonds, as these have to be declared in the party’s annual account report and not in the donation details.
The Aam Aadmi Party, a recognized national party, also received over Rs 11.06 crore in donations during the financial year. Another recognized national party, the CPI-M also received over Rs 7.64 crore in donations. According to the report, the National People’s Party (NPP), the only recognized national party in the North-East, received a donation of more than 14.85 lakh rupees.
The BJP was also a major beneficiary of electoral bonds bought by large corporate groups like Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Muthut, Jindal Group and TVS Motors. -News-Patiala
