BJP donations surge 87% ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls, electoral bond share drops below 50%

According to the report, the BJP got Rs 1,685.62 crore in the form of electoral bonds, or 43% of its total contributions. In 2022-2023, the party had got Rs 1,294.14 crore in the form of electoral bonds, forming 61% of the total contributions.

In February last year, the electoral bond scheme was scrapped by the Supreme Court, which held it unconstitutional.

As expected for a Lok Sabha election year, the BJP’s expenditure on election/ general propaganda increased from Rs 1,092.15 crore in the previous year to Rs 1,754.06 crore, the report showed. Of that, Rs 591.39 crore was spent on advertisements and publicity.

While the Congress was a distant second to the BJP in terms of donations, it saw a higher spike in contributions in the election year. The Congress’s annual report showed that the party’s grants/ donations/ contributions increased 320% from Rs 268.62 crore in 2022-2023 to Rs 1,129.66 crore in 2023-2024.

Electoral bonds accounted for 73% of the total donations to the party at Rs 828.36 crore, a jump from Rs 171.02 crore in 2022-2023. Election expenditure by the Congress increased to Rs 619.67 crore, from Rs 192.55 crore the previous year.

With the Supreme Court scrapping the electoral bond scheme just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, 2023-2024 was the last financial year in which parties could avail of the anonymous funding. The BJP was the biggest beneficiary of the scheme, getting about half of the total electoral bonds sold from April 2019 till the scheme was scrapped (Rs 6,060 crore), followed by the Trinamool Congress (Rs 1,609.53 crore) and the Congress (Rs 1,421.87 crore).

As per the TMC’s annual audit report for 2023-2024, which was published by the EC last week, the party’s income increased to Rs 646.39 crore from Rs 333.46 crore the previous year. Electoral bonds accounted for about 95% of its income.