BJP amassed over Rs 430 crore in donations, 12 times more than all national parties

New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has got over 93 per cent of donations of above Rs 20,000 received by national political parties, during 2017-18, pocketing Rs 437.04 crore of the total Rs 469.89 crore donated by corporates and individuals.

According to a report by election watchdog, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a total of 4,201 donations of above Rs 20,000, amounting to Rs 469.89 crore were declared by the seven national parties for the year.

Of the total donations, BJP got the lion's share with 2,977 donations followed by the Congress which has declared receiving Rs 26.658 crore.

The total donations received by the BJP is more than 12 times the aggregate declared by the rest of the national parties-- Congress (INC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).

The total donations of the national parties, during the year dipped by Rs 119.49 crore from the previous year.

The BJP's donations have decreased by 18 per cent from Rs 532.27 crore it received in 2016-17 while the Congress' donations decreased from Rs 41.90 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 26.658 crore during 2017-18.

The Mayawati-led BSP declared that it did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000 during the year.

It is mandatory for political parties to provide details of all donations of more than Rs 20,000 to the Election Commission annually.

Of the total donations, 1,361 amounting to Rs 422.04 crore were made by corporate/business sectors while 2772 individual donors donated Rs 47.12 crore in the year.

The CPI-M garnered Rs 2.75 crore from 196 donations, while the NCP collected Rs 2.08 crore through 42 donations. The CPI got Rs 1.14 crore from 176 donations while Trinamool Congress got Rs 20 lakh from 33 donations.