BJP Got 80% of Rs 689 Crore Received From Unknown Sources by National Parties in 2017-18

New Delhi: The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) accounted for 80 per cent of the total income of national parties from unknown sources in financial year 2017-18. The party declared Rs 553.38 crore as income from unknown sources during the year and the income of national parties amounted to of 689.44 crore, according to an ADR analysis.

“This income of the BJP is more than four times the aggregate of income from undisclosed sources by the other five national parties,” the report reads.

According to the report, in 14 years between 2004-05 and 2017-18, national parties collected Rs 8,721.14 crore worth of income from these unrecorded sources.

Under the current norms, political parties are not bound to reveal the identity of those making a donation of below Rs 20,000 or via electoral bonds. This income of political parties constitute 'income from unknown or undisclosed sources'.

Funding from electoral bonds, sale of coupons, relief funds, miscellaneous income, voluntary contributions, contribution from meetings/morchas etc., form this income head.

Electoral bonds, which were introduced by the government in January 2018, accounted for 31 per cent or Rs 215 crore of the total Rs 689.44 crore in 2017-18. Out of this, Rs 210 crore was collected by the BJP, while Congress collected Rs 5 crore.

At least 51.38 per cent or Rs 354.2 crore of the undisclosed income was received through 'voluntary donations' (below Rs 20,000) to the national parties. Whereas Rs 115.69 crore or 16.78 crore was received from the “sale of coupons”. While the BJP made up for the most part of the income from “voluntary donations” (Rs 342.66 crore), Congress (Rs 110.32 crore) and NCP (Rs 5.37 crore) bagged all the money from the “sale of coupons”.

“Combined income of INC and NCP from sale of coupons between FY 2004-05 and 2017-18 stands at Rs 3573.53 crore,” says the ADR report.

Known and unknown sources combined, national parties collected Rs 1,293.05 crore in 2017-18. Of this, BJP received Rs 1,027.04 crore. Congress, BSP, NCP, AITC and CPI received Rs 199.15 crore, Rs 51.694 crore, Rs 8.15 crore, Rs 5.167 and Rs 1.55 crore respectively.

Almost 54 per cent of BJP's total income was from unknown sources in the previous year. At the same time, sources of 60.21 per cent of the Congress' and 65.89 per cent of the NCP's income were not revealed.