Financial Chronicle: New Delhi: Monday, June 04, 2018.
The latest
report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election
Watch (NEW), focuses on donations received by the National Political Parties,
above Rs 20,000, during the Financial Year 2016-17, as submitted by the parties
to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The National Parties include
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI),
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and All India Trinamool Congress
(AITC).
The total
donations above Rs 20,000 declared by national parties was Rs 589.38 crore from
2,123 donations.
The total
donations of national parties during FY 2016-17 increased by Rs 487.36 crore,
an increase of 478 per cent, from Rs 102.02 crore declared during the previous
financial year, 2015-16.
Donations to
BJP increased from Rs 76.85 crore during FY 2015-16 to Rs 532.27 crore during
FY 2016-17 –
593 per cent increase.
Donations to
Trinamool Congress increased by 231 per cent, CPI(M) and Congress have declared
increase of 190 per cent and 105 per cent respectively as per their donation
reports for FY- 2015-16 and 2016-17, while that of CPI decreased by 9 per cent.
Sources of
income
The total
income of the national parties from known donors – details of donors as
available from contribution report submitted by parties to the Election
Commission: Rs 589.38 crore which is 37.8 per cent of the total income of the
seven National parties during FY 2016-17.
Total income
of the parties from other known sources -- eg. sale of assets, membership fees,
bank interest, sale of publications, party levy etc.: Rs 258.99 crore, or 16.61
per cent of total income.
Total income
of the seven national parties from unknown sources – income specified in the IT
returns whose sources are unknown – for the FY 2016-17 is Rs 710.80 crore,
which is 45.59 per cent of the total income of the parties in India.
Details of
unknown sources of income
Among the
unknown sources of funding, maximum funds were collected under ‘Voluntary
Contributions’ by BJP during FY 2016-17. A total of Rs 464.84 crore was
collected under this head which formed 99.98 per cent of the total income from
unknown sources of BJP.
The most
preferred unknown source of funding for the Congress was ‘sale of coupons’
under which the party collected a total of Rs 115.64 crore which formed 91.69
per cent of the party’s total income from unknown sources during FY 2016-17.
State-wise
donations to national parties
Segregation
of donations according to states was made by ADR/NEW based on the address
provided by the parties in their donations report to the ECI.
A total of Rs
290.90 crore was donated to national parties from Delhi, followed by Rs 112.31
crore from Maharashtra and Rs 20.22 crore from Uttar Pradesh.
A total of Rs
91.91 crore, (15.59 per cent of total donations received by the National
parties, FY 2016-17), could not be attributed to any state/ union territory due
to incomplete information provided by the parties.
Donors
from corporates/ business sectors vs individual donors
708 donations
to national parties were made by corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs
563.24 crore or 95.56 per cent of total donations while 1,354 individual donors
donated Rs 25.07 crore 4.25 per cent of total donations to the parties during
FY 2016-17.
531 donations
from corporate/business sectors were made to BJP – Rs 15.43 crore –while 663
individual donors donated Rs 16.82 crore to the party during FY 2016-17.
The Congress
received a total of Rs 36.06 crore via 98 donations from corporate/business
sectors and Rs 5.84 crore via 501
individual
donors during FY 2016-17.
Observations
There is
still ambiguity in details of donations declared by national parties for FY
2016-17.
Of the seven
national parties, BJP, Congress, CPI and CPI(M) had not declared PAN details of
166 donations through which the parties collected a total of Rs 2.86 crore.
Recommendations
The Supreme
Court gave a judgment on September 13, 2013 declaring that no part of a
candidate’s affidavit should be left blank. Similarly, no part of the Form 24A
submitted by political parties providing details of donations above Rs 20,000
should be blank.
Full details
of all donors should be made available for public scrutiny under the RTI. Some
countries where this is done include Bhutan, Nepal, Germany, France, Italy,
Brazil, Bulgaria, the US and Japan. In none of these countries is it possible
for nearly 50 per cent of the source of funds to be unknown, but at present it
is so in India.
The national
and regional parties should, ideally, lead by example by filing complete and
correct statements of donations to the ECI well in time for public scrutiny so
as to encourage financial transparency.
The National
and regional political parties must provide all information on their finances
under the Right to Information Act. This will go a long way in strengthening
political parties, elections and democracy.
.JPG)
.JPG)
