BJP declared 570 donations worth Rs 149.875 cr: ADR

New Delhi: The BJP has declared donations worth more than three times of the aggregate amount for five other parties, including the Congress, TMC and NCP, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.

The report stated that the BJP also disclosed donations from the Amaravati Municipal Corporation, where both the mayor and the deputy mayor are from the saffron party. The party's declarations also included land received from at least three donors.

"The donations declared by the BJP are more than three times the aggregate declared by the Congress, NCP, CPI, CPM and TMC, for the same period," it said. The report, prepared by the ADR, focuses on donations received by the national political parties, above Rs 20,000, during the financial year 2019-20, as submitted by the parties to the ECI.

According to the report, the BJP declared a donation of Rs 4.80 lakh from the Amravati Municipal Corporation.

"No details of address, bank name, PAN, among others, have been provided by the party against this donation. A casual search on the internet shows that the aforesaid donor is a Government of Maharashtra local body (as mentioned on their website). It raises questions on the legality of the contribution made by a municipal corporation which is a governing body to a political party," the poll rights group said.

"The BJP declared 570 donations of Rs 149.875 crore, AITC collected 52 donations worth Rs 7.1035 crore, Congress collected 25 donations of Rs 2.6875 crore and NCP collected two donations of Rs 3.005 crore having incomplete cheque/DD details where cheque number, bank details on which it was drawn and the date on which the cheque was received/ encashed is not provided. Thus, without the complete cheque/DD details, it would be a time-consuming process to link the donors

against their donations and hence trace the money trail," the report said.