In FY21, contributions total Rs 477.54 crore for BJP, Rs 74.5 crore for Congress: ECI

Seven national parties, barring the BSP, collected Rs 593.66 crore through contributions of Rs 20,000 or above in 2020-21, which is 41.53 per cent less than what was collected in 2019-20, according to contribution reports submitted with the Election Commission.

All parties are required to submit annual contribution reports, which comprise donations of Rs 20,000 or above every year. The latest reports showed that all national parties, barring the CPI, reported a decline in such contributions. However, these reports do not provide the whole picture of the income and contributions of the parties.

Party leaders attribute the decline in large contributions to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis.

According to the contribution reports, the BJP received Rs 477.54 crore in 2020-21 as against Rs 785.7 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 742 crore in 2018-19. The BJP is yet to submit its annual audit report for 2020-21 and the total income of the party is yet to be determined. Union Minister Rajiv Chandrasekhar's Jupiter Capital Pvt. Ltd. was a prominent BJP donor.

Donations to the Congress above Rs 20,000 were pegged at Rs 74.5 crore as against Rs 139.01 crore and Rs 146 crore in 2019-20 and 2018-19 respectively. In 2020-21, according to the Congress audit report, it had an income of Rs 95.42 crore in donations, grants and other contributions.

A portion of the Congress's contributions came from Karnataka Congress leaders like DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, MB Patil, G Parameswara, Priyank Kharge, Dinesh Gundu Rao and KJ George among others.

The NCP, which had received Rs 59.94 crore in 2019-20, could gather only Rs 26.26 crore in 2020-21 while the CPI(M) got only Rs 12.85 crore as against 19.69 crore previously.

The Trinamool Congress witnessed a slump in donations from Rs 8.08 crore to Rs 42.51 lakh, mainly riding on a contribution of Rs 25 lakh by party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

While the BSP declared that it had not received any donation above Rs 20,000, the Conrad Sangma-led NPP said it had received Rs 59.51 lakh as against Rs 1.74 crore in the previous financial year. The CPI was the only party to show a jump in such donations – from 1.29 crore to Rs 1.49 crore.

The contributions to the CPI(M) and the CPI have substantial amounts from its leaders like General Secretaries Sitaram Yechury and D Raja in the form of party levy.