The BJP is the favoured party for corporate donors, with the party in power getting the lion's share of donations from business houses in the last four years, reveals a study of donations made to national parties from 2012-13 to 2015-16.
Out of the five parties whose funding was analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms, the BJP received the maximum donation from corporate donors—Rs 705.81 crore. As many as 2,987 corporate houses have donated funds to the saffron party.
In comparison, the Congress' funding from corporate sources was paltry—Rs 198.16 crore from 167 donors. The NCP received Rs 50.73 crore from 40 donors. The CPI and the CPI(M) have the lowest share of corporate donations at four per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
As much as 89 per cent of the money came from business houses. The parties received a total of Rs 956.77 crore, which is 89 per cent of the total funding, from the corporate sector.
As much as 92 per cent of the BJP's total funding came from corporate sources. For the Congress, this figure stood at 85 per cent.
The maximum donations came in the year 2014-15 when the Lok Sabha elections were held—amounting to 60 per cent of the total funds contributed by the corporate sector to the parties.
Despite not donating at all during 2012-13, Satya Electoral Trust was the top donor to three national parties in the period analysed. The trust donated a total of 35 times in three years, amounting to Rs 260.87 crore. The BJP declared receiving Rs 193.62 crore, while the Congress was the recipient of Rs 57.25 crore from the trust and the NCP received Rs 10 crore.
General Electoral Trust was the second highest corporate donor to the BJP and the Congress, contributing Rs 70.7 crore and Rs 54.1 crore respectively. The real estate sector was the biggest contributor of funds in 2012-13. Lodha Constructions donated Rs 16 crore to the BJP in the period analysed.
The BSP, despite being a national party, was not considered in the study as it declared that the party received no voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 from any donor in the four-year period.
