69% of funds for political parties from unknown sources

Fifty-seven national and regional political parties collected donations of Rs 11,367.34 crore between 2004-05 and 2014-15, but 69% of it were from “unknown” sources, an analysis by a private election watchdog said on Tuesday.

The Association for Democratic Rights (ADR) has demanded that full details of all donors be made available for public scrutiny under the RTI as a very large percent of the income cannot be traced to the original donor.

The Congress has collected the highest donations amounting to Rs 3,982.09 crore during the 11 fiscals.

The party also topped the list for collecting money from unknown sources running into
Rs 3,323.39 crore or 83% of the total income.

The Congress is followed by the BJP with total donations of Rs 3,272.63 crore, of which 65% or Rs 2,125.91 crore was from unknown sources. Donations from unknown sources means income declared in the I-T returns by parties without giving the source of income for donations below Rs 20,000.

According to the analysis by the ADR, the parties together collected Rs 11,367.34 crore but only Rs 1,835.63 core or 16% of the total income was from known sources.

Up 313%
The ADR said the income of national parties from unknown sources increased by 313%, from Rs 274.13 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 1,130.92 crore in financial year 2014-15.
DH News Service