How much did BJP, Cong and AAP receive as corporate donation in 2017-21 period?

New Delhi, Nov 28: The ruling BJP party has received the highest amount of corporate funds from Gujarat compared to other parties in the period between 2016 and 2021, according to a report by political watch dog the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The saffron party received Rs 163.54 crore, which is 16 times more than Congress, in the five-year period. "During the five-year period between FY 2016-17 and 2020-21, maximum corporate donations worth ₹163.544 cr were declared by the BJP from 1,519 donors. BJP received the highest donations in the FY 2018-19 of ₹46.222 cr from 524 donations," it said in a statement.

The ruling party got Rs 38.98 crore from 417 donors in 2022 alone. The grand old party, which has been out of power in Gujarat for 27 years now, received Rs 10.46 crore from 47 corporate donors in the same period.

The four political parties received a total of Rs 174.06 crore from 1,571 donors from Gujarat between 2017-17 and 2020-21, the report stated. New entrant AAP, which is hoping to give an alternative to the BJP in Gujarat, got least number of donations as it received only Rs 3.2 lakh. It has to be noted that it did not receive any corporate funds between 2017 and 2020.

Crorepatis in the fray

In the recent report, the political watchdog said that out of the 788 candidates, 211 (27 per cent ) are crorepatis in the first phase of Gujarat polls. The BJP, which is aiming to return to power once again, has given tickets to 79 (89 per cent ) out of 89 candidates who are wealthy. In comparison, Congress has given 65 (73 per cent ) out of 89 candidates to crorepatis and 33 (38 per cent ) out of 88 candidates have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 89 BJP candidates analysed is Rs. 13.40 crore, 89 INC candidates analysed is Rs 8.38 crore, 88 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 1.99 crore and 14 Bhartiya Tribal Party candidates have average assets worth Rs 23.39 lakh.

Candidates with zero or low assets

Amid these wealthy candidates, there are candidates with zero or low assets too. One Independent candidate namely Bhupendra Bhavanbhai Patoliya from Rajkot West constituency has declared zero assets in the affidavit.

Rakeshbhai Sureshbhai Gamit from Vyara constituency has movable assets worth Rs 1000, Jayaben Mehulbhai Boricha from Bhavnagar West constituency has movable assets worth Rs 3,000 and Samir Fakruddin Shaikh from Surat East constituency has movable assets worth Rs 6,500.

Gujarat will vote in two phase on December 1 and 5 and the results will be announced on December 8.