Electoral Trusts Gave Parties ₹3,826 Crore in 2024-25; BJP Got 82.5%, ADR Finds

Electoral trusts have once again become the go-to channel for corporate political donations in India, a route that expanded after the electoral bond scheme was struck down. Donations are routed through trusts that collect money from companies and individuals and pass it on to parties.

Figures compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) from contribution reports filed with the Election Commission of India (ECI) show how much reached parties in 2024-25, and which parties received it. The rules on reporting donations to parties are set out in Section 29C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

How Electoral Bonds Gave Way to Trust Donations

Electoral bonds were issued by the State Bank of India in denominations from ₹1,000 to ₹1 crore, and they were sold for 10 days in each of January, April, July and October. They were bearer instruments, and parties had to encash them within 15 days. Neither the buyer nor the recipient had to be disclosed publicly.

The Supreme Court struck the scheme down on 15 February 2024. A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud held unanimously that the scheme violated voters' right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

According to ThePrint, donations routed through electoral trusts rose to ₹3,811 crore in 2024-25, from ₹1,218 crore in 2023-24, roughly tripling in a year. Before the verdict, bonds had accounted for about 90% of corporate funding, the publication notes. Trusts had lain dormant at low volumes, with five in 2023-24 as an example.

The trust route is not new. ThePrint notes that 14 new trusts were activated in 2014 as the Lok Sabha polls approached.

How an Electoral Trust Receives and Passes On Money

Donors give money to a trust through banking channels; cash is prohibited. Eligible donors are Indian citizens with a PAN, companies and firms registered in India, Hindu undivided families and associations of persons. Non-resident Indians must provide a passport number, and foreign entities are barred. Donors certify that the funds are not proceeds of illicit activity.

Trusts are non-profit companies under Section 8 of the Companies Act. Each year they must pass at least 95% of the funds they receive to parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Scroll describes the same 95% requirement for trusts set up under the 2013 Electoral Trusts Scheme.

Each trust's board decides how money is allocated. ThePrint says these decisions often mirror donors' informal preferences, which can disadvantage smaller parties. Corporate donations receive full deductions under Section 80GGB of the Income Tax Act.

A trust's annual filings list donor entities and recipient parties by name, but they do not show how much each donor gave to each party, ThePrint reports.

What the 2024-25 Filings Show

ADR released its analysis on 13 February 2026. Of the 20 electoral trusts registered with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), 15 submitted contribution reports to the ECI, and 10 declared receiving donations. Those 10 trusts received ₹3,826.3 crore and distributed almost the same amount to parties.

The BJP received ₹3,157.6 crore, or 82.52%. Prudent Electoral Trust gave the party ₹2,180.7 crore, up from ₹723.8 crore in 2023-24, and Progressive Electoral Trust gave ₹757.6 crore. ADR says the remaining ₹668.7 crore, or 17.48%, went to 21 other parties.

ADR's analysis gives ₹216.3 crore as the amount Prudent Electoral Trust donated to Congress. Scroll gives ₹298.7 crore as Congress's total from trusts, or 7.8%, and ₹102 crore, or about 2.7%, for the Trinamool Congress.

ADR counts 228 corporate and business houses that contributed ₹3,636.8 crore. It names Elevated Avenue Realty LLP (₹500 crore), Tata Sons Private Limited (₹308.1 crore), Tata Consultancy Services Limited (₹217.6 crore) and Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited (₹175 crore) among the largest donors. Scroll reports that 99 individuals or proprietors gave ₹187.6 crore, and that the 10 largest donors gave ₹1,908.8 crore, about 49.9% of total contributions.

ThePrint, which covers the same year, gives ₹3,811 crore for all trust disbursements and about ₹3,112 crore to the BJP through trusts. It counts 19 registered trusts, nine of which channelled funds, and says three trusts, Prudent, Progressive and New Democratic, handled 98% of trust donations.

Gaps and Late Filings in the Trust Reports

ADR says five of the 20 registered trusts had not posted their 2024-25 contribution reports on the ECI website three months after the filing deadline. They are Swadeshi Electoral Trust, AB General Electoral Trust, PD General Electoral Trust, Janta Nirvachak Electoral Trust and Independent Electoral Trust.

Of the 15 trusts that filed, five declared nil contributions for the year. Two trusts have reported no donations since registration, or their reports are not public, ADR says.

ADR also flags Harmony Electoral Trust. The CBDT approved it on 20 January 2023 for assessment years 2023-24 to 2025-26, and it is not in the ECI's updated list of approved trusts. It received ₹35.55 crore and distributed ₹35.65 crore to parties, which is ₹10 lakh more than it received.

Electoral trusts have once again become the go-to channel for corporate political donations.

What Section 29C Requires of Parties

Under Section 29C, a registered party must file an annual contribution report with the ECI listing each donor who gives ₹20,000 or more. The report records the donor's name, address, PAN, mode of payment and date of donation. It is prepared by the party's treasurer or another authorised person and filed in Form 24A.

Donations below ₹20,000 need not be disclosed by name, ADR says. A party that does not submit the annual report of donations it received above ₹20,000 is not eligible for tax relief under Section 29C, according to ADR.

There is no cap on how many times an individual or company can make contributions, ADR notes.

Proposed Limits on Cash and Anonymous Donations

ADR says the Election Commission proposed to the Law Ministry that cash donations be capped at 20% of total donations or ₹20 crore, whichever is lower. The proposal, made by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar in September 2022, would also lower the anonymous-donation threshold from ₹20,000 to ₹2,000.

ADR records criticism that parties could split donations into multiple receipts of ₹1,999 each, as they reportedly do with receipts of ₹19,999.

The changes would need amendments to the Representation of the People Act. They were proposals in 2022.