TMC officially got more money than Congress in 2019

NEW DELHI: The All India Trinamool Congress has raised Rs 143 crore in 2019-20, more than the Congress, with nearly 70% of its funds coming through electoral bonds, the contentious funding mechanism criticised by Opposition parties.Around Rs 100 crore of Trinamool’s Rs 143 crore corpus came through electoral bonds alone, as per the party’s annual audit report submitted to the Election Commission of India. Trinamool is locked in an intense election battle with the BJP, known to heavily fund every election. Trinamool too was a big spender in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with an official figure of Rs 107.2 crore.Trinamool’s erstwhile main challenger, the CPM, and other opposition parties have questioned the electoral bond mechanism for its lack of transparency. Petitions challenging the scheme are pending in the Supreme Court.While electoral bonds and trusts are largely methods to mobilise corporate funding for political parties and elections, the donor’s name and amount donated is not revealed in the case of bonds.After Trinamool, the Telugu Desam Party raised Rs 81 crore through bonds. BJD raised Rs 50 crore, DMK raised Rs 45 crore, JDU secured Rs 13 crore while JDS raised Rs 7.5 crore through bonds. AIADMK and SAD raised Rs 6.5 crore and Rs 6.7 crore bond-based funding, respectively in 2019-20, as per ECI data.80699022The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam raised Rs 89.6 crore poll funds, of which Rs 6.5 crore came through electoral bonds. Tata-affiliated Progressive Electoral Trust was a major contributor, giving Rs 46.7 crore to the party. DMK is yet to file its audited report. Its report for 2019-20 cited a collection of Rs 48.3 crore, of which Rs 45.5 crore was from electoral bonds.TDP managed a total of Rs 91.5 crore in 2019-20 and spent Rs 108-crore plus in the year. The Biju Janta Dal in Odisha is another cash-rich regional party with a Rs 90.3-crore corpus mobilised in 2019-20. Of this, Rs 50 crore amount came from electoral bonds while electoral trusts donated Rs 25.28 crore to it. The party was a big spender in 2019-20 when the state assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls were held— it spent Rs 186 crore.Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has declared Rs 58.2 crore in funding, without any details on the donors. It spent Rs 95 crore in 2019-20.NDA-ally Janata Dal (United) raised Rs 23.3 crore in 2019-20 while Shiromani Akali Dal, raised Rs 16.4 crore. In Karnataka, Janata Dal(S) brought in Rs 19.7 crore. The Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha mobilised Rs 3.4 crore.Interestingly, parties which raised smaller funds have reported no electoral bond funding. Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party raised only Rs 14.7 lakh in 2019-20, Ramadoss’s PMK reported Rs 55 lakh funding, AIUDF got about Rs 56 lakh raised –– none of these parties reported any electoral bond-based funding.

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