BJP received 16 times as much funding through corporate donations than Congress from 2016 to 2018, says ADR report

New Delhi: The BJP received more than Rs 900 crore as donations from over 1,500 corporates between 2016-18, over 16 times more than what the Congress got in the same period, a new report said on Tuesday. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysed the donations from corporates to national parties said during the period 2016-18. According to the ADR analysis, during the period 2016-18 business houses donated a total of Rs 985.18 crore, constituting 93 percent of the total contribution to political parties from known sources. [caption id=“attachment_5614221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of BJP chief Amit Shah. PTI[/caption] “Out of the six national parties, BJP received the maximum donations of Rs 915.596 crore from 1,731 corporate donors followed by Congress which received a total contribution of Rs 55.36 crore from 151 corporate donors and NCP with Rs 7.737 crore from 23 corporate donors in financial year 2016-17 and 2017-18,” the report said. It said that during financial years 2016-17 and 2017-18, the voluntary contributions of BJP and the Congress above Rs 20,000 from corporates was 94 per cent and 81 per cent respectively. Between financial years 2012-13 and 2017-18, the BJP received the maximum corporate donations of Rs 1,621.40 crore, constituting 83.49 per cent of the total corporate donations in six years. The ADR analysis said donations from corporates to national parties increased by 160 per cent between financial years 2004-05 to 2011-12 and financial years 2016-17 to 2017-18. Between financial years 2012-13 and 2017-18, donations from corporates to national parties increased by 414 per cent, with a major drop in the percentage of corporate donations in financial year 2015-16. Donations from corporates to national parties reduced by 25.07 per cent between financial year 2016-17 and 2017-18. The political parties considered for the report were Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI), CPM and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). Though a national party, BSP was not considered for analysis in this report as the party has declared that it received no voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 from any donor during this period as well as during the time period since 2004, the report said. The report said CPI had the lowest share of corporate donations at two percent.