The BJP received almost ₹6,000 crore in political donations during the 2024–25 election cycle, while the Congress received only ₹522 crore. This increase in fundraising comes when the Supreme Court discontinued the Electoral Bond program, which changed India's political financial environment.
According to information on the Election Commission website, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) collected ₹6,088 crore in political donations in 2024–2025.
According to contribution records that political parties filed with the Election Commission of India, the ruling party got significantly more money in 2024–2025, the year of the Lok Sabha elections, than it did in 2023–2024 (₹3,967 crore).
The Congress party collected ₹522 crore in the same year, whereas the BJP contributed around 12 times as much. In 2023–2024, the Congress collected ₹1,130 crore in political funding.
Since the Supreme Court of India eliminated the Electoral Bond mechanism of political fundraising that permitted anonymous donations in February 2024, the political funding obtained by political parties in 2024–2025 is noteworthy.
To distribute the donations to the political parties, a number of businesses established the Electoral Trust.
For the year 2024–2025, 13 of the 19 electoral trusts have already turned in their reports to the poll panel. At least 95% of contributions must be given to the parties that an electoral trust receives.
Both the Prudent Electoral Trust's contribution reports and the poll panel's contribution reports detail the money that political parties got from contributors who donated more than ₹20,000.
| Top 10 donors of BJP in 2024-25 | |
|---|---|
| Donor | ₹in Crores |
| Prudent electoral trust | 2180.7 |
| Progressive electoral trust | 757.6 |
| AB General electoral trust | 606 |
| New Democratic electoral trust | 150 |
| Serum Institute of India | 100 |
| Rungta group | 95 |
| Bajaj group | 74 |
| ITC group | 72.5 |
| Hero Enterprise | 70 |
| Vedanta group | 65 |
| (Source: Election Commission of India) | |
These sources state that in 2024–2025, the BJP collected 85% of all political financing from these trusts. The saffron party has secured 56% of total financing a year prior to the Lok Sabha election year.
Donations received between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, are mentioned in the reports. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections took place from April 19 to June 1.
Prior to 2024, the majority of political funding that parties got came from electoral bonds. Since the Supreme Court discontinued the program in February 2024, electoral trusts account for the majority of the political funding reported in 2024–2025.
|
Top
10 donors of Congress in 2024-25 |
|
|
Donor |
₹in
Crores |
|
Prudent
electoral trust |
216.3 |
|
Progressive
electoral trust |
77.3 |
|
Century
Plywoods (India) Limited |
26.0 |
|
ITC
Limited |
15.5 |
|
AB
General electoral trust |
15 |
|
Kotak
group |
10 |
|
Hindustan
Zinc Limited |
10 |
|
The
Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores Limited |
9.5 |
|
Rajeev
Gowda |
4,2 |
|
Derive
Investments |
4 |
|
(Source:
Election Commission of India) |
|
₹2,181 cr was contributed by Prudent Trust.
According to the research, Prudent Electoral Trust has maximized the political funding. The trust gave the Congress ₹216 crore and the BJP ₹2,181 crore. Elevated Avenue Realty LLP, a company connected to the engineering and technology conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, made the biggest donation to Prudent, totaling ₹500 crore.
The second-largest political funder is Progressive Electoral Trust. The trust has given the Congress ₹77.3 crore and the BJP ₹757.6 crore.
Among electoral trusts, AB General Trust is the third largest source of political finance, having given ₹606 crore to the BJP and ₹15 crore to the Congress.
Funding for Politics
The Election Commission of India (ECI) must receive yearly audit and contribution reports from all Indian political parties that are registered.
According to the Representation of the People Act of 1951 and the Income Tax Act of 1961, this is a statutory financial compliance requirement meant to guarantee accountability and openness in political finance.
Section 80GGB of the Income Tax Act, 1961 allows individuals and corporations to obtain a 100% tax rebate (deduction) on qualifying political donations. The overall taxable income of the business is decreased by this deduction.
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