India elections 2019: Large donations from corporates
BJP received Rs4.37 billion in donations in 2017-18, report says
New Delhi: The expenses of an election rally, including travel by key party leaders by private helicopters, are mainly incurred from the individual and corporate donations received by a political party.
Election watchdog ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’ recently released a report on donations above Rs20,000 (Dh1.053) received by political parties for the year 2017-18. The report is based on income declared by national political parties in their reports filed with Election Commission (EC).
According to the report, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received Rs4.37 billion in donations in 2017-18. This is over 13 times more than the combined amount received in similar donations by other national parties, including Congress.
Congress received just Rs270 million in such donations in 2017-18.
While BJP used to get more money than Congress in donations above Rs20,000 even when it was not in power, its gap vis-a-vis Congress reached its highest level in 2017-18.