NEW DELHI: An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms shows that the 10 electoral trusts which have declared receiving contributions during FY 2024-25, received a total amount of Rs 3,826.3 cr from corporates and individuals and distributed almost the equivalent amount to various political parties. BJP accounted for 82.5% (Rs 3,157.6 cr) of the total donations received by political parties from electoral trusts.The Congress received 7.8% (Rs 298.7 cr) and All India Trinamool Congress received 2.6% (Rs 102 cr) of the total donations received by all parties from all 10 electoral trusts. Besides this, 19 other political parties collectively received a total of Rs 267.9 cr from the electoral trusts.The ADR report highlights that 15 out of the 20 electoral trusts, registered with the CBDT, submitted their contribution details for FY 2024-25 to the ECI of which only 10 declared to have received any donations from various corporates and individuals during that year.According to the rules formulated by the central govt, electoral trusts are required to distribute at least 95% of the total contributions received during the financial year along with the surplus brought forward from the earlier financial year to the eligible political parties.As many as 228 corporate and business houses have contributed Rs 3,636.8 cr to electoral trusts in FY 2024-25 and 99 individuals and proprietors have contributed to electoral trusts in FY 2024-25. Nine individuals contributed Rs 187.5 cr to Prudent Electoral Trust and three individuals contributed Rs 8 lakh to Einzigartig Electoral Trust.Elevated Avenue Realty LLP contributed the highest amount of Rs 500 cr among all donors to electoral trusts, followed by Tata Sons Private Limited with Rs 308.1 cr, Tata Consultancy Services Limited with Rs 217.6 cr, and Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited, which contributed Rs 175 cr to various trusts.Top 10 donors have donated Rs 1,908.8 cr to electoral trusts, which forms 49.9% of the total donations received by the trusts during FY 2024-25. All these 10 donors contributed to Prudent, Progressive and New Democratic Electoral Trusts.Manufacturing sector dominated contributions to electoral trusts in FY 2024–25, accounting for Rs 1,063.12 cr, which constituted 27.78% of the total donations. Real estate (Rs 629.1 cr; 16.4%) and communication/IT/telecom (Rs 451.8 cr; 11.81%) emerged as the second and third largest contributors, respectively.Maharashtra emerged as the largest contributor state, from which electoral trusts received total donations amounting to Rs 1,225.4 cr followed by Telangana (Rs 358. 2 cr), Haryana (212.9 cr), West Bengal (Rs 203.8 cr) and Gujarat (Rs 200.5 cr).ADR has recommended that those electoral trusts, which have not responded to and complied with the guidelines circulated by the ECI should be heavily penalised as indicated in the notification issued by the ECI to the Trusts.
