AAP donations up by 275% in 2014-15, Rs 4 crore came from ‘mystery’ donors: ADR

New Delhi: Contrary to Aam Aadmi Party's known anti-corruption stand and emphasis on transparency, a latest report by democracy watchdog 'the Association for Democratic Reforms' (ADR) claims that Delhi's ruling party saw a 275% hike in donations in 2014-15 as compared to the previous financial year.

As per the ADR report, the AAP was the only state-recognised party in Delhi to see a rise of 275% in donations from 2013-14 to 2014-15, which is much higher than national parties’ total increase of 151%.

The party received a total of Rs 9.42 crore donations above Rs 20,000 each during 2013-14 and Rs 35.28 crore during 2014-15, a press release from the ADR said.

"AAP is the only state-recognised party of Delhi and it saw an increase of 275% in donations from 2013-14 to 2014-15, which is much higher than the national parties' total increase of 151%," a release from the ADR said.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party received donations to the tune of Rs 44.71 crore in the last two financial years but shockingly, the identity of 111 donors, who together contributed Rs 91.47 lakh, was not disclosed in the party’s list of donors.

These 'mysterious donors' gave over Rs 20,000 each to the party. Interestingly, neither the addresses nor PAN card details of 137 people, who donated Rs 3.02 crore, were made available.

Interestingly, Maharashtra and Delhi were the biggest donors for AAP in the last two years. Donations from Maharashtra constituted 23.28%  of total donations while Delhi donors gave AAP 20.42 per cent of total donations.

ADR, an organisation which works for transparency and electoral reforms, prepared its report on the basis of the total donations declared to the Election Commission by Delhi's political parties.

It said 24.65% of total donations for the AAP, which has 67 members in the 70-seat Delhi assembly, came from outside India.

The other parties whose donations were analysed by ADR included the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist.

The AAP is also the only major political party of Delhi, including all the national parties, which has given details of donations below Rs 20,000 for 2014-15.

The total donations received by the AAP in 2013-14 and 2014-15 equals only 5.14%  of the total donations received by five national parties, collectively, during the same period, it said.

Among the national parties, the BJP received the maximum donations of Rs 608.21 crore between 2013-14 and 2014-15, also witnessing the highest increase of 156% in the donations received.

The BSP declared it did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000 during 2014-15, as it has been declaring for the past 10 years.