- Congress stands a distant second getting Rs 10.46 crore
- Between March 2018 and October 2022, a total of 595 (electoral) bonds worth Rs 343 crore purchased from the Gandhinagar main branch of the State Bank of India
- Total corporate donations declared by political parties from Gujarat between fiscal 2016-17 and 2020-21 stood at Rs 174.06 crore from 1,571 donors
NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, NOV 28
Electoral bonds are Kamadhenu for any ruling party be it in the centre or state. The Opposition parties are always at the receiving end of this EB system. The party in power wants electoral bonds to be available on tap, whenever you feel the need for the electoral bond, it should be available, says Jagdeep Chhokar, Founding Member & Trustee of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got Rs 163.54 crore, or nearly 94 percent of corporate donations received by four political parties in Gujarat in the five years from FY 2016 to FY 2021, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.
Total corporate donations declared by political parties from Gujarat between fiscal 2016-17 and 2020-21 stood at Rs 174.06 crore from 1,571 donors, out of which the BJP received Rs 163.54 crore from 1,519 donors, said the report released on Sunday.
The four political parties are the BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the report informed.
Congress stood a distant second getting Rs 10.46 crore from 47 donors, stated the report.
“Of the total corporate donations (Rs 4,014.58 crore) received by political parties in the five-year period, 4.34 percent or Rs 174.06 crore worth of corporate donations came from Gujarat. This is based on the data analysed from the contribution reports submitted by the political parties to the Election Commission,” it said.
Political parties received the highest corporate donations worth Rs 48.83 crore from 532 donations in fiscal 2018-19, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, it said.
The report has been compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms in the context of the Assembly elections in Gujarat, which will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5.
Between March 2018 and October 2022, a total of 595 (electoral) bonds worth Rs 343 crore were purchased from the Gandhinagar main branch of the State Bank of India, the ADR said.
The total income declared by national and regional political parties whose annual reports were available on the Election Commission’s website is Rs 16,071.60 crore, the report further stated.
As much as 79.91 percent or Rs 12,842.28 crore of total income in five years was declared by eight national parties, while the remaining Rs 3,229.32 crore (20.09 percent) was declared by regional parties, it said.
“Maximum funds were received by the national parties in FY 2019-20 (the year of Lok Sabha elections) amounting to Rs 4,760.09 crore, while regional parties received the highest income of Rs 1,089.422 cr in FY 2018-19,” it said.
“The party in power wants electoral bonds to be available on tap, whenever you feel the need for the electoral bond, it should be available. That is the aim. If they do it in one go, they might be criticised. So, they are doing it gradually,” said Jagdeep Chhokar, Founding Member & Trustee of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
