New Delhi: The BJP’s bank balance took a quantum leap from Rs 88 crore in 2004 to Rs 10,107 crore in 2024, while the Congress’s registered a modest increase to Rs 133 crore from Rs 38 crore in the same period, Congress treasurer Ajay Maken told the Rajya Sabha Thursday, underscoring in his words the growing absence of a “level playing field” in Indian democracy.
Maken said the figures he cited were based on data in the public domain released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) after every Lok Sabha poll, reflecting the campaign expenses declared by every political party and their declared bank balances.
He alleged that many businessmen and industrialists had told him in private that they were threatened with action by the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department to prevent them from donating funds to the Congress. He made the remarks while participating in the discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha.
“I am treasurer of the Congress. After every election, we announce our poll expenses and our bank balance. After 2004, the BJP had Rs 88 crore as its bank balance and the Congress had Rs 38 crore, around two times more. In 2009, our government came to power and we raised more money based on our increased strength. The BJP’s bank balance after 2009 was Rs 150 crore and the Congress’s was Rs 221 crore, 1.47 times more at a ratio of 60:40,” Maken said.
In 2014, the year the BJP returned to power, the party had a bank balance of Rs 295 crore, which rose to Rs 3,562 crore in 2019, according to figures provided by the Congress leader.
“It was 11 times more than the Congress, which had Rs 315 crore in its account in 2019. The ratio that was 60:40 till 2014, became 92:8. By 2024, the figures were more shocking. From Rs 3,562 crore, the BJP’s bank balance rose to Rs 10,107 crore, 75 times more than the Congress, which had Rs 133 crore. Where is the level playing field? How will the Opposition take on the ruling party when the ratio stands at 99:1?” Maken asked.
The disparity in political donations going to the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress has been a matter of intense scrutiny in recent years. Earlier this month, a review of contributions by various electoral trusts on the ECI’s website showed that nearly 83 per cent of the Rs 915 crore of donations made through the Progressive Electoral Trust—one of the many electoral trusts through which funds are routed to parties—in 2024-25 went to the BJP, while the Congress’s share stood at 8.4 per cent.
In February 2024, the Electoral Bond Scheme, introduced in 2018 by the Modi government and widely criticised for allowing opaque donations to parties, was scrapped by the Supreme Court.
In his speech, Maken also raised the issue of the freezing of Congress bank accounts just before the 2024 general elections.
“We wrote to the ECI and got no response. Then the I-T department sent the Congress a notice of Rs 210 crore. Subsequently, the I-T took Rs 135 crore from our account and we were given access to our accounts on 23 March, while the elections were announced on 16 March 2024,” Maken claimed.
The Congress had said that the I-T department sought the freezing of its bank accounts on two grounds—that the party delayed the filing of its income tax return for 2018-19 and that it accepted donations amounting to Rs 14.40 lakh in cash, given by MLAs and MPs.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)