While the BJP earned Rs 698 crore, Congress came in a distant second with a total amount of Rs 122.5 crore, the ADR said in its report.
The Progressive Electoral Trust, backed by the Tata Group, was the largest donor to political parties in 2018-19, according to the report.
According to ADR analysis, “donations from corporations to national parties increased by 131% from the 2004-12 and 2018-19 periods ”.
In fact, the BJP was the largest recipient of corporate donations during the seven-year period from 2012-13 to 2018-19, consuming more than 82% of the money. In 2018-19 also, the number of corporate donations to the BJP was more than seven times the combined number of donations to the other four national parties (INC, NCP, AITC and CPM).
Political parties are mandated to send details of institutions that have made donations in excess of Rs 20,000 in a financial year (between April 1 and March 31) to the ECI every year including details of name, address, PAN, mode of payment and amount contributed by each donor.
In its recommendations, the ADR said that all donors who have donated a minimum of Rs 20,000 as single or multiple donations must provide their PAN details.
“The national parties raised a total of Rs 13,364 crore from 274 corporate donors without obtaining their PAN and address details. Such incomplete contribution reports should be returned to the parties by ECI, to discourage them from providing incomplete information,” he said. .
(With inputs from agencies)
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