Ahead of Bihar polls, JD(U), LJP(RV) donations jump, bank on electoral trusts
JD(U)'s funding grows to Rs 18.69 cr in 2024-25 from Rs 1.81 cr in 2023-24; LJP (RV)'s donations soar to Rs 11.09 cr from Rs 11.67 lakh
Union minister Chirag Paswan-led LJP(Ram Vilas); Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) 
While the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) got a total of Rs 18.69 crore as donations during the financial year 2024-25, the Union minister Chirag Paswan-led LJP(Ram Vilas) received over Rs 11 crore as contributions during the same period.
Both the JD(U) and the LJP(RV) are the BJP’s key NDA allies in Bihar as well as at the Centre. The NDA won the Bihar Assembly elections, held in November 2025, by a landslide.
From electoral trusts to companies and individuals, in a series of articles The Indian Express examines the funding sources of political parties as mentioned in their contribution reports submitted to the Election Commission (EC) for 2024-25, the first year after the Supreme Court scrapped the government’s electoral bonds scheme.
The highest donations to the JD(U) and the LJP(RV) have come from electoral trusts.
The JD(U) saw its total donations grow by 932% to Rs 18.69 crore from Rs 1.81 crore in 2023-24. A JD (U) leader said: “This rise is surely seen when compared to the previous year’s contribution figure, but our donations in 2024-25 still remains modest in comparison to several parties.”
The LJP (RV)’s funding jumped by 9403% to Rs 11.09 crore in 2024-25 from Rs 11.67 lakh the previous year.
As per the JD (U)’s contribution details for 2024-25, the party received Rs 18.69 crore from 66 entities including electoral trusts, companies and individuals.
The JD(U)’s biggest contributions came from electoral trusts, including Rs 10 crore from Progressive Electoral Trust, Rs 5 crore from Prudent Electoral Trust, and Rs 2 crore from Samaj Electoral Trust Association.
The JD(U) also received donations from several local companies, including Urmila International Services Private Ltd (Rs 10 lakh), Sona Biscuits Ltd (Rs 10 lakh), Natraj Iron & Industries Pvt Ltd (Rs 5 lakh), besides Kolkata-based Anmol Industries Ltd (Rs 15 lakh).
Among individuals, Aakash Agrawal from Bangaluru-based Prestige Ivy Terraces, and Sanjay Kumar Sinha from Patna contributed Rs 10 lakh and Rs 4.5 lakh to the party respectively.
A slew of JD(U) leaders and legislators also made contributions to the party. They include Nitish Kumar (Rs 1.25 lakh), Jehanabad MLA Manorama Devi (Rs 1.01 lakh), Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh (Rs 3.74 lakh), MPs Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Giridhari Yadav, Ramnath Thakur, Kaushlendra Kumar, Dileshwar Kamat, Rampreet Mandal, Alok Kumar Suman (Rs 72,000 each), Ajay Kunar Mandal and Khiru Mahto (Rs 72,000 each), the party’s national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, Siwan MP Vijay Lakshmi Devi, Sheohar MP Lovely Anand and Sitamarhi MP Devesh Chandra Thakur (Rs 54,000 each).
According to the LJP(RV)’s contribution report, the party received major contributions from the electoral trusts, including Rs 10 crore from Progressive and Rs 1 crore from Prudent. It got Rs 5 lakh from SRR Projects Private Ltd.
A JD (U) leader told The Indian Express: “We have received very modest donations, mostly coming through electoral trusts. We did not receive any big contribution from any local companies.”
An LJP (RV) leader claimed that “political donations worth Rs 11 crore for a party hardly means much”.
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