In the past 2024-25 financial year, the total donations received by state parties above Rs. 20,000 amounted to Rs. 1,050 crore. Of this, DMK is in the first place with Rs. 365.78 crore.
Under the Representation of the People Act, registered political parties are required to submit to the Election Commission, with proper details, donations above Rs. 20,000 received from individuals or companies in a financial year. Accordingly, based on the details submitted by state parties, the non-governmental organization Association for Democratic Reforms released a report on Thursday.
Accordingly, in the last financial year 2024-25, the total donations above Rs. 20,000 received by state parties amounted to Rs. 1,051.66 crore. This is more than three times higher than the previous financial year (Rs. 347.69 crore).
While a total of 2,861 donations were received in 2023-24, this number increased to 5,297 in 2024-25. Corporates and business firms have contributed the most to donations for political parties. Compared with the previous financial year, this contribution rose from Rs. 227.61 crore to Rs. 644.93 crore. In these two years, corporates and business firms together donated Rs. 872.54 crore through 650 donations. The total amount of donations made by individuals during this period is Rs. 5,647 crore.
Donations received from undisclosed donors increased from Rs. 6.62 crore to Rs. 302.67 crore.
DMK tops the list: In 2024-25, having received donations of Rs. 365.78 crore, DMK is in first place among state parties. Of this, Rs. 300.64 crore was received from unidentified donors.
The following parties are next in line: Trinamool Congress (Rs. 184.96 crore), YSR Congress (Rs. 140.04 crore), Telugu Desam (Rs. 83 crore), AIADMK (Rs. 66.3 crore), Biju Janata Dal (Rs. 60 crore), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Rs. 33.23 crore), JanaSena (Rs. 25.33 crore), and Janata Dal (United) (Rs. 18 crore).
In the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25, the Prudent Electoral Trust donated a maximum of Rs. 434 crore through 38 donations. Tyka Associates (Rs. 160 crore) is in second place. Progressive Electoral Trust, Vedanta Ltd., and AB General Electoral Trust are among the top 5.
The report states that donations made without mentioning PAN numbers increased from Rs. 7.69 crore to Rs. 329.58 crore, and cash donations increased from Rs. 6.54 crore to Rs. 301.44 crore.
