Bhubaneswar: There seems to be no stopping for the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha when it comes to the heavy downpour of political donations. The cash registers of the regional party rang well though the financial year 2019-20 wasn’t an election year.
For the sheer magnetic attributes of the ruling BJD in the political donations map, Odisha figures prominently in the country. Moreover, as the State has two national parties in the opposition, come rain or shine, political donations keep flooding the State.
With the Biju Janata Dal helming Odisha since 2000, political donations flow thick and fast for the regional party. The fact that BJD has enlisted itself as the third regional party in the country to garner maximum political donations speaks volumes.
Maintaining the streak of magnetism, in the financial year ended in March 2020, the ruling BJD has again emerged as the third after two regional parties of Tamil Nadu – AIADMK and DMK, where elections are due in around May this year, to attract maximum political donations in the country.
As per the IT returns filed by the Party before the Election Commission of India (ECI), BJD had stated that the party had received a total of Rs 28.2 crore as political donations in the fiscal year 2019-20.
A cursory glance at the donor’s list reveals that the major contributors to the BJD were – Progressive Electoral Trust (PET) and ITC group. While the PET had contributed the lion’s share of over 86 per cent of the political donations the ruling regional entity had received in the year 2019-20, ITC group had chipped in with around 14 per cent of the annual donations or around Rs 2.91crore for the party, according to the ECI declaration.
A rewind here reflects the fact that BJD had received a total of Rs 29.31 crore in the previous fiscal year (2018-19).
But the big twist this time is, while BJD garnered Rs 29 crore donations from as many as 37 entities in 2018-19, the generous flow of funds in 2019-20 had come from just 2 donors.
Moreover, in the annual return filed, the statement had made no mention of any donations below Rs 20,000 which the party had received in 2019-20. The regional political entity had shown zero donations below Rs 20,000 in 2018-19.
In order to get more details, when contacted, BJD treasurer Subash Singh said, “Our party had filed a detailed report with the ECI. All the relevant data had been supplied.”
On donations below Rs 20,000, Singh sought little time to supply a detailed statement after collecting the same from the party’s account section.
Regional Comparison
As per ECI data, besides two national parties – BSP and NCP, only ten state parties, including BJD, had filed the annual returns till December 2020. The delay in filing returns by other parties has been attributed to extension given for filing IT returns owing to Coronavirus pandemic.
A look at the well-known political entities infers the following:
*AIADMK received the highest political donations to the tune of over Rs 52 crore, including Rs 46 crore from PET.
*Another TN regional party, the DMK had seen donations worth Rs 48.31 crore, including Rs 45.5 crore from electoral bonds.
*Biju Janata Dal (Odisha) saw donations to the tune of Rs 28.2 crore
*Ruling YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh – Rs 8.9 crore, the party’s fortune saw massive dip as it had collected donations to the tune of Rs 80 crore in 2018-19 (election year in AP)
*Telugu Desam Party (Andhra Pradesh) – Rs 2.6 crore
*Janata Dal (United) – Rs 6.08 crore, despite Bihar elections.
*Shiromani Akali Dal (Punjab) – Rs 4.1 crores
*Goa Forward Party – Rs 33 lakh
Who Is PET?
A detailed look at the contribution report filed by the Trust before the ECI revealed that the major donors to the Trust were companies belonging to the Tata Group.
ECI data shows the trust had made a big contribution to two regional parties in the country – BJD and AIADMK – in the year 2019-20.
The PET had been providing political donations to all parties across the spectrum in Odisha since 2014 (as per the records available). The ruling BJD had not filed the political donors’ list with the ECI till 2010. In the year 2014-15, PET had donated Rs 4.6 crore to BJD and over Rs 91 lakh to Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee.
The PET has also been a major donor to the ruling BJP at the national level in 2018-19. The opposition Indian National Congress had also received donations from the Trust in the same fiscal year.
Regarding the criteria of giving donations, a document of the Trust states that money is distributed to parties on the basis of their strength in the Lok Sabha and their performance in the elections.
The Eligibility: Parties qualify to receive funds only if they get at least a minimum of 16 of the total 543 seats in the Lok Sabha.
The mention-worthy fact here is, though BJD has 12 LS seats in the current Lok Sabha, the Party received generous donations by the dint of being the ruling party in the State.