Electoral bonds ended, but no impact on BJP’s coffers; Even after a year, donations increased by 50% to ₹6,088 crore

Electoral Bond Scheme Even after exactly a year after it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, there has been no negative impact on the funding of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On the contrary, in 2024-25 – which was also the year of Lok Sabha elections – donations to BJP reached a record level. According to the Indian Express report, in the first full financial year after the end of electoral bonds, BJP received a total of ₹ 6,088 crore in donations, which is about 53 percent more than last year.

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The Contribution Report 2024-25 submitted by BJP on December 8 was made public by the Election Commission (ECI) last week. According to the report, in 2023-24 the party had received donations of ₹3,967 crore, while in 2024-25 this figure directly reached ₹6,088 crore.

BJP’s funding is 12 times bigger than Congress, opposition could not reach even together

The gap between BJP and Congress has widened in the matter of donations. While Congress received donations of only ₹522.13 crore in 2024-25, BJP’s total funding was almost 12 times more than Congress. Not only this, the total donations received by a dozen opposition parties including Congress was ₹ 1,343 crore – that is, BJP alone received 4.5 times more money than the total donations of opposition parties. These figures further clarify the picture of financial imbalance in the country’s politics, on which questions have been raised for a long time.

Electoral trust becomes the backbone of BJP’s funding

An in-depth analysis of BJP’s 162-page Contribution Report reveals that 61 percent of the total donations received by the party in 2024-25 came from electoral trusts. According to the report, BJP received ₹3,744 crore through trusts, while the remaining ₹2,344 crore came from individual and corporate donors. With the abolition of electoral bonds, this is a clear indication that alternative funding avenues have rapidly gained ground and corporate donations still remain a major source of income for the party.

Which companies are the top donors of BJP?

Names of many big and well-known companies are included in the top 30 donors of BJP in 2024-25. The biggest contribution among these was from Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd, which donated ₹100 crore. After this, Rungta Sons Private Limited donated ₹95 crore and Vedanta Limited donated ₹67 crore.

Other major donors include:

• Macrotech Developers Limited – ₹65 Crore
• Derive Investments – ₹53 crore
• Modern Road Makers Pvt Ltd – ₹52 crore
• Lotus Hometextiles Limited – ₹51 crore
• Safal Goyal Realty LLP – ₹45 Crore
• ITC Limited – ₹39 Crore
• Global Ivy Ventures LLP – ₹35 Crore
• ITC Infotech India Ltd – ₹33.5 crore
• Hero Enterprises Partner Ventures – ₹30 crore
• Mankind Pharma Limited – ₹30 crore
• Suresh Amritlal Kotak – ₹30 Crore
• Hindustan Zinc Limited – ₹27 crore

It is clear from these figures that despite the removal of electoral bonds, there has been no reduction in the political funding of the corporate sector.

Highest donation in six years, record even after bond era

According to the report, the donations received by BJP in 2024-25 are the highest in the last six years since 2019-20. Details of all donations above ₹20,000 are included in the party’s Contribution Report. Under the current rules, companies can still donate to political parties through cheque, demand draft or bank transfer and it is mandatory to disclose these donations to the Election Commission.

Electoral Bond: Controversy in the name of transparency

The Electoral Bond Scheme was introduced in 2017-18 and barring the Covid year, at least half of the total donations received by BJP came through bonds. The then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had defended the scheme, saying that traditional political funding is cash and anonymous, whereas bonds formalize it.

However, in February 2024, the Supreme Court declared this scheme unconstitutional and said that it is a violation of the voter’s right to information. The court had also ordered SBI and the Election Commission to make public the names of all donors and beneficiaries. According to data, political parties received anonymous donations of more than ₹ 16,000 crore under the bond scheme, of which the largest share went to the BJP.

The big question: Transparency or display of power?

This bumper increase in BJP’s funding even after the end of electoral bonds raises many questions – has transparency in political funding really increased, or have only the methods changed? Will this affect electoral equality in democracy?