Not surprisingly, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) received the lion’s share, i.e 86.59 percent in donations disbursed in 2017-18 through electoral trusts, reveals a report compiled by the ADR ( Association for Democratic Reforms) based on the declarations submitted by the trusts to the Election Commission, While Indian National Congress received 5.91% of the total donations.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) had circulated Guidelines for submission of contribution reports of Electoral Trusts on the 6th June, 2014 wherein instructions were issued to all the Electoral Trusts formed after January,’13 (and approved by the CBDT), to submit an Annual Report containing details of contributions received by the Electoral Trusts and disbursed by them to political parties in the interest of transparency.
These guidelines were issued to 7 Electoral Trusts formed after January, 2013, which included Satya Electoral Trust, Pratinidhi Electoral Trust, People’s Electoral Trust, Progressive Electoral Trust, Janhit Electoral Trust, Bajaj Electoral Trust and Janpragati Electoral Trust. These guidelines are being sent by the ECI to all Electoral Trusts formed since then.
13 out of the 22 Electoral Trusts, registered with the CBDT, submitted their contribution details for FY 2017-18 to the ECI of which only 5 declared to have received any donations during that year. The following report of ADR analyses the details of donors of 5 Electoral Trusts formed after January, 2013 and the contributions made by the Trusts to political parties during FY 2017-18.
As per the letter dated 11th Oct, 2017, sent by the CBDT to ECI on the updated list of Electoral Trusts, there were a total of 21 Electoral Trusts. One more Electoral Trust, AB General Electoral Trust, was registered in 6th Dec, 2017 and the total now stands at 22 Electoral Trusts registered with the CBDT, 13 of whom have submitted their contributions report. Of these only 5 Trusts declared receiving contributions from various corporate houses and individuals.
Donations made by Electoral Trusts to Political Parties: FY 2017-18
- Prudent Electoral Trust donated Rs 154.30 cr to BJP while AB General Electoral Trust donated Rs 12.50 cr of its total income to BJP.
- 2 Electoral Trusts made contributions to only one political party each which includes NCP and JKNC.
- Prudent Electoral Trust and AB General Electoral Trust are the only two, who have donated to 3 political parties each, BJP, INC and BJD.
- BJP alone received Rs 167.80 cr or 86.59% of the total donations received by all political parties from Electoral Trusts. Other 4 political parties include INC, BJD, NCP and JKNC received only Rs 25.98 cr collectively.
Contributions received and disbursed by Electoral Trusts during FY 2017-18
a. According to the rules formulated by the Central Government, Electoral Trusts are required to donate 95% of their total income to registered political parties in a financial year.
b. 5 Electoral Trusts which have declared receiving contributions during FY 2017-18, have received a total amount of Rs 194.12 cr from corporates and individuals and distributed Rs 193.78 cr (99.82%) to various political parties.
Read the detailed report, Click Here
