Political parties received Rs 956.77 crore from corporates between 2012/13 and 2015/16 with the BJP pocketing Rs 705.81 crore out of it.
The party came to power in the 2014 general elections and a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms brings the numbers to light.
Political parties have to submit details of donors for donations above Rs 20,000 with a growing voice asking for parties to come under the RTI to enable greater transparency in political funding.
Among the top five national parties, ADR’s numbers show that the BJP received the maximum donations worth Rs 705.81 crore from 2987 corporate donors. They are followed by the Congress which received a total contribution of Rs 198.16 crore from 167 corporate donors between the same period. Bringing up the rear are the NCP, CPM and the CPI at Rs 50.73 crore, Rs 1.89 crore and Rs 0.18 crore respectively.
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The ADR report says that maximum donations to all parties took place during 2014/15; the period of the Lok Sabha elections, reaching Rs 573.18 crore for that year. The combined lowest was Rs 76.94 crore received during 2015/16.
The report also shows that the BJP consistently outscored all political parties in the four years with funds in the four years at Rs 72.99 crore, Rs 156.983 crore, Rs 408.344 crore and Rs 67.49 crore. For the same years, the Congress acquired Rs 7.545 crore, Rs 53.516 crore, Rs 128.11 crore and Rs 8.99 crore.
Earlier this year, the government gave its assent to the Finance Bill which readies the ground for a new form of political funding tool called ‘electoral bonds’. A person or company can buy electoral bonds from RBI-notified banks via cheque/bank transfer and anonymously give that bond to the favorite political party. Anonymity is granted to the donor by ‘bearer’ bonds.
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The party which received the bond can go to the bank and redeem it. The donor may choose to be anonymous. While bank (read government)knows who purchased the bond, the same is not revealed to the party or public.
The Wall Street Journal reported that "the bearer bonds were phased out in the US in the 1980s because they are anonymous and easily used by money launderers and tax evaders." This new electoral bond provision has the potential to turn 100% of donations into anonymous.
Until April 1, 2017, big corporate entities had to reveal the name of the political party to which a contribution has been made and how much they donated.
