In FY 2019-20, when the Lok Sabha elections were conducted, political parties received over ₹920 crore in the form of corporate donations, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms. The report analysed corporate donations to five national parties: the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM). The BJP was the biggest recipient of corporate donations made in FY20 followed by the INC and NCP. Prudent Electoral Trust was the top contributor to the BJP and INC followed by Jankalyan Electoral Trust and ITC Limited. It is to be noted that donations through electoral bonds still constitute the lion’s share in the total income of the BJP and INC
- Electoral bonds form the highest share in the total income of three national parties — the BJP, the INC and the AITC
- Corporate donations formed a major chunk of the NCP’s total income
- The top donor for the two national parties (BJP and INC), Prudent Electoral Trust, donated a total of ₹248 crore in FY 20
