95% of donations from electoral trusts went to BJP

NEW DELHI: Electoral trusts, which are required to donate 95% of their total income to registered political parties in a financial year, gave away Rs 49.50 crore during financial year 2015-16. Of this, the lion's share went to BJP, with the rest going to Congress and JD (U).

This was revealed by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Tuesday, based on an analysis of the annual reports submitted by electoral trusts to the Election Commission of India.

As per EC rules, Electoral trusts are required to submit details of contributions and donations to the EC in a financial year.

The donations, totalling Rs 49.5 crore in 2015-16, were made by just two --Satya Electoral Trust and Samaj Electoral Trust--out of a total 18 registered with the tax department, Of the Rs 49.50 crore that was donated, Satya Electoral Trust donated Rs 47 crore while Samaj Electoral Trust donated Rs 2.52 crore. BJP got 95.74% of Satya Electoral Trust's kitty, that is, Rs 45 crore, with the rest, Rs 2 crore, going to Congress. In the case of Samaj Electoral Trust, BJP got 39.68% or Rs 1 crore, with the rest, Rs 1.5 crore, going to Janata Dal (United).

ADR added that the Trusts received a total Rs 49.52 crore from corporates and distributed 99.96% of the total amount to various political parties. The total donations received by politi cal parties through this route fell sharply in 2015-16, from Rs 177.4 crore in the previous fiscal.

JSW Steel Ltd contributed the maximum amount of Rs 25 crore to Satya Electoral Trust, which formed 53.19% of the Trust's total donations, followed by Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Torrent Power Ltd.

Each of them donated Rs 10 crore and constituted 21.28% each of total donations to Satya Electoral Trust, the ADR report said.

Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd contributed the maximum amount of Rs 1 crore, which formed 39.68% of total donations to Samaj Electoral Trust, followed by Sil Investments Ltd which donated Rs 75 lakh and constituted 29.76% of total donations to the Trust, ADR said.

The names of Electoral Trusts, currently, do not indicate the name of the company or group of companies which set up the Trusts.