New Delhi: Most political parties in India saw significant jumps in donations in 2024-25, as compared to the previous year, according to Election Commission data. Leading all parties was the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) which saw a jump of over 9,000 percent in one year, followed by the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), which saw a jump of 2,766 percent in donations in one year; for the Congress, contributions went up 81.7 percent in the last financial year.
Overall, Congress got donations of Rs 509 crore in 2024-25, up from Rs 280 crore the previous year.
The biggest donation to the Congress, amounting to Rs 216 crore, came from the Prudent Electoral Trust, followed by Rs 77.34 crore from the Progressive Electoral Trust. In 2023-24, Congress had received over Rs 150 crore from the Prudent Electoral Trust, which was the only trust to donate to the party that year. This financial year saw at least five electoral trusts donating to the party, collectively contributing over Rs 313 crore to the party.
The Congress also received donations from corporates directly. For instance, it got Rs 10 crore from Hindustan Zinc Limited, Rs 11.50 crore from ITC Infotech India Ltd, Rs 4 crore from ITC Limited, and Rs 5 crore from Century Plywoods (India) Limited. Senior party leader P. Chidambaram donated Rs 3 crore, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah contributed Rs 2.5 lakh to the party, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka gave Rs 2.3 lakh each, and Priyank Kharge donated Rs 2 lakh.
Contributions to the TMC went up from Rs 6.42 crore in 2023-24 to over Rs 184.96 crore in 2024-25, ahead of the assembly elections scheduled next year.
The largest donation to the party came from the Prudent Electoral Trust, amounting to Rs 92 crore; another Rs 50 crore came from Kolkata-based Tiger Associates, which is the area distributor in West Bengal for Nagaland State Lotteries, Sikkim State Lotteries and Punjab State Lotteries. The TMC also received Rs 10 crore from the Tata Group-controlled Progression Electoral Trust.
According to the Association of Democratic Reforms, Prudent Electoral Trust is the richest electoral trust in the country. It collects 90 percent of the donations made by corporates to political parties.
The contribution report for the Prudent Electoral Trust for 2024-25 hasn’t been published yet, while the Progressive Electoral Trust donated a total of almost Rs 915 crore to 10 political parties in 2024-25.
This is the first full year after the electoral bonds scheme was struck down by the Supreme Court.
Ahead of the Bihar elections, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) received Rs 11.09 crore, up from Rs 11.67 lakh in 2023-24, a whopping 9,403 percent jump.
Janata Dal (United) declared a total contribution of Rs 18.6 crore, as against Rs 1.81 crore received in 2023-24, a 90 percent jump.
The elections saw the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)—comprising JD(U), BJP and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) among others—registering a massive victory.
Ahead of the Tamil Nadu polls scheduled for 2026, DMK also declared a jump of 350 percent in contributions—increasing from Rs 81.5 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 365 crore in 2024-25.
While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had received over Rs 11 crore in donations in the last financial year, it saw a 245 percent jump in contributions, receiving over Rs 38 crore as contributions in 2024-25.
AAP’s highest contribution came from Prudent Electoral Trust, amounting to a total of Rs 16.4 crore—over 50 percent of its total contributions. Other contributions ranged from multiple donations of Rs 100 by individual donors to donations amounting to a couple of lakh by individual donors across the country. It also received over Rs 30 lakh from Karnataka-based microfinance institution Bharatha Swamukti Samsthe.
Contributions to the BJP
The contribution report for the Bharatiya Janata Party is yet to be published, but Rs 757.6 crore of the Progressive Electoral Trust’s total donation of Rs 915 crore went to the BJP. The BJP also received Rs 150 crore from the New Democratic Electoral Trust, over Rs 30 crore from the Harmony Electoral Trust, Rs 21 crore from the Triumph Electoral Trust, Rs 9.5 lakh from the Jan Kalyan Electoral Trust and Rs 7.7 lakh from the Einzigartig Electoral Trust.
In the last financial year, BJP received over Rs 2,244 crore as contributions, comprising around Rs 723 crore from the Prudent Electoral Trust, over Rs 127.50 crore from the Triumph Electoral Trust and over Rs 17 lakh from the Einzigartig Electoral Trust.
The Progressive Electoral Trust also contributed Rs 10 crore each to TMC, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Biju Janata Dal, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Janata Dal (United) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Bahujan Samaj Party declared that they had received no contributions over Rs 20,000.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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