New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received nearly 90% of all corporate donations in the financial year 2022-23, a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) revealed ahead of the Supreme Court’s verdict declaring the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional today.According to the election watchdog’s report, while other national political parties reported a combined corporate donation of nearly Rs 70 crore, the BJP received Rs 610.491 crore from the sector.ADR’s report also highlighted the total donations declared by the national parties for 2022-23, a total of Rs 850.438 crore, of which Rs 719.858 crore went to the BJP alone.The total donations declared by the BJP are five times more than the total donations declared by Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Communist Party of India or CPI(M) and National People’s Party (NPP) for the same period, the report said.The ADR report is based on donations above Rs 20,000, received by the national political parties during the financial year 2022-23, as per details submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (EC).According to the report, Congress declared Rs 79.92 crore in donations, AAP Rs 37 crore, NPP Rs 7.4 crore, CPI (M) Rs 6 crore while Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) declared receiving no donations above Rs 20,000 during this time period.The total donations received by the national parties during 2022-23 increased by Rs 91.701 crore, an increase of 12.09% from the previous financial year 2021-22.Donations to BJP increased from Rs 614.626 crore during 2021-22 to Rs 719.858 crore during FY 2022-23. On the other hand, the Congress’s donations decreased from Rs 95.459 crore during 2021-22 to Rs 79.924 crore during 2022-23, the report said.Delhi, Gujarat, and Maharashtra were the top contributors to national party donations, with Rs 276.202 crore, Rs 160.509 crore, and Rs 96.273 crore, respectively.Corporate and business sector donations played a pivotal role, constituting Rs 680.495 crore, or 80.017% of the total donations.The lack of transparency in funding of political parties, amplified with the introduction of the electoral bond scheme, has been a point of contention between opposition parties, activists and the government.The Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on the constitutional validity of the scheme in November 2023.In its verdict today, the court struck down the scheme and declared it unconstitutional. It said that anonymous electoral bonds are violative of the right to information and Article 19(1)(a).Significantly, it asked the State Bank of India to furnish to the Election Commission of India, the details of donations through electoral bonds – which would presumably include donors – and the details of the political parties which received the contributions.The court directed the Election Commission to publish these details on the website by March 13, 2024.The apex court also ordered that the issue of electoral bonds has to stop.
