TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ More than 50 per cent of the funds national parties received during the financial year 2017-18 came from “unknown” sources that included donations through electoral bonds and voluntary contributions, according to election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms.
The ADR on Wednesday released the findings of an analysis of six national parties’ IT returns and donation statements filed with the Election Commission. According to it, the total income of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, the Communist Party of India, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Trinamool Congress, and the Nationalist Congress Party in 2017-18 was Rs 1293.05 crore.
The income of these parties from “unknown” sources was Rs 689.44 crore, which is 53 per cent of their total income. The BJP alone declared Rs 553.38 crore as its income from unknown sources, which is 80 per cent of the total income of the national parties from such sources. Out of the Rs 689.44 crore, the share from electoral bonds was Rs 215 crore or 31 per cent, the report said.
The parties received Rs 354.22 crore or more than 51 per cent of the fund from unknown sources through voluntary contributions (below Rs 20,000), it said, adding the total income from other miscellaneous unknown sources was Rs 4.5 crore. Thirty-six per cent of their income or Rs 467.13 crore from “known” donors, whose details were available from contribution reports submitted to the Election Commission.
