7 electoral trusts received Rs 258 cr in donation; BJP got 82% of it

Seven electoral trusts received a total amount of Rs 258.49 crore from corporates and individuals, and the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged more than 82 per cent of it, poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms said.

Electoral trust is a non-profit organisation formed in India for orderly receiving of contributions from corporate entities and individuals to political parties.

It aims at improving transparency in the usage of funds for election-related expenses.

The ADR, in a new report, said 16 out of the 23 electoral trusts submitted details of their contribution for the financial year 2020-21 to the Election Commission of India, of which only seven declared to have received donations.

"Seven electoral trusts which have declared receiving contributions during FY 2020-21, have received a total amount of Rs 258.4915 crore from corporates and individuals and distributed Rs 258.4301 cr (99.98 per cent) to various political parties," it said.

The BJP received Rs 212.05 crore or 82.05 per cent of these donations, while the Janata Dal-United secured Rs 27 crore or 10.45 per cent of the amount.

Ten other political parties -- the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Lok Janshakti Party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Communist Party of India and the Loktantrik Janta Dal together received Rs 19.38 crore.

According to the rules formulated by the central government, electoral trusts are required to distribute at least 95 per cent of the total contributions received during the financial year, along with the surplus brought forward from the previous financial year, to eligible political parties before March 31.

The ADR report analyses the details of donors of seven electoral trusts formed after January, 2013, and the contributions made through them to political parties during a given year.

Of the 23 registered electoral trusts, 14 have been submitting copies of their contributions to the Election Commission consistently.

Another eight trusts declared that they did not receive any contribution or their contribution reports have never been available on the ECI website since their registration.

About 159 individuals have contributed to electoral trusts in FY 2020-21.

Two individuals contributed Rs 3.50 crore to Prudent Electoral Trust, 153 people contributed Rs 3.202 crore to Small Donations Electoral Trust, three individuals gave a total of Rs 5 lakh to Einzigartig Electoral Trust and one person contributed Rs 1,100 to Independent Electoral Trust, the ADR said.