NEW DELHI, 21 Apr: Seven electoral trusts received a total amount of Rs 258.49 crores from corporates and individuals, and the BJP bagged more than 82 percent of it, poll rights body ADR 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 Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), in a new report, said that 16 out of the 23 electoral trusts submitted details of their contributions 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 crores from corporates and individuals and distributed Rs 258.4301 crores (99.98 percent) to various political parties,” it said.
The BJP received Rs 212.05 crores or 82.05 percent of these donations, while the JD (U) secured Rs 27 crores or 10.45 percent of the amount. Ten other political parties – Congress, NCP, AIADMK, DMK, RJD, AAP, LJP, CPM, CPI and the Loktantrik Janta Dal – together received Rs 19.38 crores.
According to the rules formulated by the central government, electoral trusts are required to distribute at least 95 percent 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 31 March.
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 crores to Prudent Electoral Trust, 153 people contributed Rs 3.202 crores to Small Donations Electoral Trust, three individuals gave a total of Rs 5 lakhs to Einzigartig Electoral Trust, and one person contributed Rs 1,100 to Independent Electoral Trust, the ADR said. (PTI)
