New Delhi: AAP is the only major political party in Delhi which has declared details of donations received by it below Rs 20,000 during 2014-15, a report has claimed.
According to a report released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch, which accessed information on donations declared by political parties in the national capital, the party collected Rs 2.68 crore through 3326 donations between Re 1 and Rs 20,000, during 2014-15.
AAP only major party to declare donation “AAP is the only major political party of Delhi, including all the national parties, which has given details of donations below Rs 20,000 for the year,” they said in a statement. (BJP received max donations in two Delhi assembly polls: Report) The Arvind Kejriwal-led party though had not declared the information for the year 2013-14, they said.
“Section 29C of the Representation of People Act, 1951 says that political parties are required to submit contribution details received in excess of Rs 20,000 from any person or a company, if they wish to enjoy 100 per cent tax exemption.
“This section has been interpreted by political parties to include every single donation made above Rs 20,000 by any person at one time. This section, however, would also include in it multiple donations made by the same person, entity or company, aggregating Rs 20,000 or above during the year,” they added.
The two outfits noted that 78.55 per cent or Rs 35.12 crore of the total Rs 44.71 crore the ruling party received during 2013-14 and 2014-15 came from individual donors.
On the other hand, national parties like BJP, Congress, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPI(M) said they received only 7.5 per cent or Rs 65.40 crore from individual donations.
The national parties received a total of Rs 870.15 crore in the form of donations during the two years. The organisations said AAP received a total of Rs 1.147 crore from donors whose names were unavailable in the donations report submitted by the party.
This amount forms 2.57 per cent of the total donations received by the party during the fiscals. “Total donations received by AAP in 2013-14 and 2014-15 equals only 5.14 per cent of the total donations received by five national parties, collectively, during the same period,” they said.
Maharashtra and Delhi were the biggest donors for AAP in India, during the two years constituting 23.28 per cent and 20.42 per cent of the total donations respectively.
PTI