With one scam after another tumbling out, here’s a quick look at the corporate funding pattern of the key political parties.
“It’s a ‘black box’ on political funding in the country. A first step to lift the corporate veil over the political system that is the root cause for corruption sweeping the country,” said Triolachan Sastry of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), at a media briefing here on Monday.
According to an ADR analysis of records with the Election Commission of India and the Income Tax Department till July 2012, obtained through an RTI (during 2003-04 to 2010-11), the Ahmedabad-based Torrent Power donated Rs 14.15 crore to the Congress and Rs 13 crore to the BJP and Rs 1 crore to the Nationalist Congress Party.
Asianet Holdings donated Rs 10 crore to BJP during 2009-10 and Rs 2.50 crore to Congress in the same year.
Vedanta subsidiary, Sterlite Industries, donated Rs 6 crore to the Congress during 2004-05 and 2009-10 while Madras Aluminium, also a Vedanta arm, gave Rs 3.5 crore to the BJP.
Videocon Industries has donated to BJP (Rs 525.59 lakh), NCP (Rs 100 lakh), JD(U) (Rs 150 (lakh), Shiv Sena (Rs 145 lakh).
“It took us 16-18 months to get these records out,” said Sastry of IIM-Bangalore, calling for a Bill to regulate political parties so that voters are aware of the source of donations.
He said while political parties do need funds, there should be a ‘conflict of interest’ clause, as more and more public-private partnerships were in the pipeline. The five political parties with the highest total income in the last seven years are: Congress - Rs 2,008 crore, BJP - Rs 994 crore, Bahujan Samaj Party - Rs 484 crore, CPI (M) - Rs 417 crore and Samajwadi Party - Rs 279 crore. The ADR said many smaller parties, some of which are in power, such as the Trinamool Congress and the National Conference, had not submitted any list of donations to the EC, which is mandatory for an amount over Rs 20,000 under Section 29-C of the Representation of People Act 1951.
Interestingly, the highest amount of money received by political parties is from trusts, many of which have corporate backing. For instance, General Electoral Trust, said to be backed by the Aditya Birla Group, gave Rs 36.46 crore to the Congress and Rs 26.07 crore to the BJP and Rs 50 lakh to the SP.
Electoral Trust, said to be backed by the Tatas, gave Rs 996 lakh to Congress, Rs 30.54 lakh to JD(U) and Rs 158 lakh to the SP.
One Bharti Electoral Trust contributed Rs 11 crore to the Congress in 2008-09 and Rs 9.5 crore to the BJP, as also to the TDP, Lok Janshakti Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal.
The Public and Political Awareness Trust, believed to be backed by Vedanta, contributed Rs 9.5 crore to the BJP during 2003-04 and 2004-05.