‘Political parties got 60% of funds from unknown sources’
Almost 60% of the funds received by political parties cannot be traced and come from “unknown” sources, including electoral bonds, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The ADR, which analysed the audit reports and the donations declared in statements filed by political parties with the Election Commission of India each year, said that between the financial years 200405 and 202223, the country’s six national parties collected ₹19,083.08 crore from unknown sources.
At present, political parties are not required to reveal the names of individuals or organisations giving them less than ₹20,000. As a result, threefifths of the funds received cannot be traced and are from ‘unknown’ sources, the report said.
Of the ₹3,076.88 crore declared as income by national parties in 202223, ₹1,832.87 crore — or more than 59% —came from unknown sources. Of this, the share of income from electoral bonds was ₹1,510.61
crore, or 82.42%.
The vast majority of these funds went to the BJP. During 202223, the ruling party declared ₹1,400.23 crore as its income from unknown sources. This amounts to 76.39% of the total income from unknown sources declared by all national parties; the other five national parties together have received only ₹432.63 crore from unknown sources.
The Congress came a distant second, claiming 17.19% of the national pie and declaring ₹315.11 crore as its income from unknown sources.
The other parties included in the ADR’s analysis were the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Aam Aadmi Party, and the National People’s Party.