BJP received Rs 276.45 crore from electoral trusts in 2019-20, Congress Rs 58 crore: ADR
New Delhi: The BJP received Rs 276.45 crore or 76.17 per cent of total donations given to all political parties from electoral trusts in 2019-20, according to a report by poll rights group ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms).
The BJP was followed by the Congress which received Rs 58 crore or 15.98 per cent of total donations received by all parties from all seven electoral trusts, it said.
The report that analysed contribution reports of electoral trusts for financial year 2019-20 said top donors to the electoral trusts included JSW, Apollo Tyres, Indiabulls, Delhi International Airport and DLF groups.
JSW Steel Ltd. contributed the highest amount worth Rs 39.10 crore among all donors of electoral trusts, followed by Apollo Tyres Ltd. with Rs 30 crore and Indiabulls Infraestate Ltd which contributed Rs 25 crore to various trusts.
Eighteen individuals contributed to electoral trusts in 2019-20. Ten individuals contributed Rs 2.87 crore to Prudent Electoral Trust, four individuals contributed Rs 5.50 lakhs to Small Donations Electoral Trust and four individuals gave a total of Rs 1 lakh to Swadeshi Electoral Trust, the report said.
"BJP received Rs 276.45 crore or 76.17 per cent of the total donations received by all political parties from electoral trusts followed by Congress which received Rs 58 crore or 15.98 per cent of the total donations received by all parties from all seven electoral Trusts. Other 12 political parties including AAP, SHS, SP, Yuva Jan Jagriti Party, Jannayak Party, JDU, JMM, LJP, SAD, INLD, JKNC and RLD received a total of Rs 25.4652 crore collectively," the report said.
The Election Commission had circulated guidelines for submission of contribution reports of electoral trusts to submit an annual report containing details of contributions received by the electoral trusts and disbursed by them to political parties in the interest of transparency.
These guidelines were issued to seven electoral trusts formed after January 2013 -- Satya Electoral Trust, Pratinidhi Electoral Trust, People's Electoral Trust, Progressive Electoral Trust, Janhit Electoral Trust, Bajaj Electoral Trust and Janpragati Electoral Trust.
Fourteen out of the 21 electoral trusts, registered with the Central Board of Direct Taxes, submitted their contribution details in 2019-20 to the EC of which only seven declared to have received any donations during that year.
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Voting begins for high-stakes civic polls in Maharashtra; all eyes on big battle for Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Voting in 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra began on Thursday morning with spotlight on Mumbai, where the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is locked in an intense battle with the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of India's largest and richest civic body.
Polling for 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards in these municipal corporations began amid tight security at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm. A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates.
In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), whose annual budget is over Rs 74, 400 crore, 1,700 candidates are vying for 227 seats in elections being held after nine years, after a four-year delay. More than 25,000 police personnel have been deployed across Mumbai to oversee elections.
Except for Mumbai, the other urban bodies have multi-member wards. Vote count will take place on January 16.
These are the first BMC polls since the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena when Eknath Shinde, now Deputy Chief Minister, broke away with a majority of the party’s MLAs and allied with the BJP to become the chief minister.
The undivided Shiv Sena held sway over India's richest civic body for 25 years (1997-2022).
In a significant political turn of events ahead of the elections, estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, who head Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, respectively, reunited last month after two decades in their bid to consolidate Marathi votes even as rival NCP factions forged a local alliance in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The Congress, once a formidable political force in Maharashtra, has asserted its presence in Mumbai by stepping out of the shadow of its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies - Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP).
The grand old party has joined hands with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in the state capital.
Elections to the 29 municipal corporations are being held after a gap of several years, with terms of most of them having ended between 2020 and 2023. Of these, nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the most urbanised belt in India.
Voting is underway in the following municipal corporations: Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna and Ichalkaranji.
