Overall, in the 2021-22 financial year, the total donations made to political parties amounted to Rs 780.774 crores. This was an increase of 31.50 per cent or Rs 187.026 crore from the last financial year (2020-21). This was significantly lower than the donations received in 2019-20, which amounted to Rs 1,013.805 crores, as this was the year of the last Lok Sabha elections in the country. If we break down the donations done by various states, Delhi tops the list. A total of Rs 395.849 crore was donated to the national parties from Delhi, followed by Rs 105.3523 crore from Maharashtra and Rs 44.9584 crore from Gujarat. 80 per cent of the total donations, amounting to Rs 625.883 crores, came from corporate donations and the business sector in general. The BJP received more than seven times the total amount of corporate donations (Rs 77.075 crore) received by all other national parties last year. Individual donations amounted to Rs 153.328 crore last year.
Donations to the BJP increased by 28.71 per cent in the last financial year to a total of Rs 614.626 crores. This amounts to 78 per cent of the total donations received by all national parties. The Prudent Electoral Trust donated Rs 336.50 crores to the party, which amounts to 54.75 per cent of the total funds received by the party. The party received Rs 95 crores from 1,255 donations, standing at the second spot far behind the BJP. The Prudent Electoral Trust also donated Rs 16.50 crores to INC, accounting for 17.28 per cent of the total funds received by the party.
The CPI(M) declared a decrease of roughly 22 per cent in political donations received to Rs 10.055 crores in the last financial year. The National People’s Party (NPP) declared the highest decrease in political donations of 40.50 per cent, from Rs 59.50 lakhs in 2020-21 to Rs 35.40 lakhs in 2021-22. The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) only declared seven donations for the last financial year. Similarly, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) claimed it did not receive any donation above Rs 20,000 for the last financial year. The party has been submitting the same claim for the past 16 years.