BJP received 82% of Rs 3,826 crore via electoral trusts in 2024-25: ADR report

New Delhi: Manufacturing sector companies donated Rs 1,063.128 crore or 27.78% of Rs 3,826.35 crore given to electoral trusts to be shared with political parties in 2024-25, a study by Association for Democratic Reforms said on Friday.

Ten electoral trusts, which declared receiving contributions during 2024-25, have received Rs 3,826.3417 crore from corporates and individuals and have distributed Rs 3,826.35 crore to various parties. Of this, BJP received Rs 3157.65 crore or 82.52% of the total donations received by all parties from electoral trusts while Congress received Rs 298.77 crore or 7.81%.

So far, only 15 of 20 Electoral Trusts have submitted their report with the Election Commission. Only ten of them have reported receiving any donations from corporates or individuals.

According to the ADR, 228 corporate or business houses have contributed Rs 3,636.81 crore to Electoral Trusts in 2024-25 while 99 individuals contributed Rs 187.62 crore.

Among the corporate houses, 184 corporates contributed Rs 2,479.04 crore to Prudent Electoral Trust and 15 companies contributed Rs 915 crore to Progressive Electoral Trust. The report said 96 individuals contributed Rs 187.54 crore to Prudent Electoral Trust while three individuals contributed Rs 8 lakh to Einzigartig Electoral Trust.

Among the corporates, Elevated Avenue Realty LLP contributed the highest amount of Rs 500 crore followed by Tata Sons Private Limited with Rs 308.13 crore, Tata Consultancy Services Limited Rs 217.62 crore and Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited, which contributed Rs 175 crore to various trusts.

Top 10 donors have donated Rs 1908.86 crore to electoral trusts, which forms 49.89% of the total donations received by the trusts. All these 10 donors contributed to Prudent, Progressive and New Democratic Electoral Trusts.

Real Estate firms (Rs 629.17 crore; 16.44%) and Communication/IT/Telecom companies (Rs 451.8582 crore; 11.81%) emerged as the second and third largest contributions after manufacturing sector companies.

The report also showed that Prudent Electoral Trust donated Rs 2180.71 crore to BJP in 2024-25, in contrast to Rs 723.785 crore contributed in 2023-24, while Progressive Electoral Trust  donated Rs 757.62 crore of its total income to BJP in FY 2024-25.

The highest contributions were in April and May 2024, when Lok Sabha elections were held as also in October 2024 ahead of Maharashtra Assembly election. In April 2024, Rs 1,217.08 crore were received by Electoral Trusts while it was Rs 934.39 crore and Rs 1,021.52 crore.