Proof of how much contractors, big biz and corporates love the BJP

The Election Commission of India no longer speaks of curbing the role of money and muscle power in elections. Yes, it still deploys an army of expenditure observers, whose reports from constituencies are never shared with people or political parties; it still forms flying squads after elections are notified and seizes gold, cash, liquor and drugs and other goods on the road but never shares the action taken and what finally happen to the seized goods; nor does the Election Commission tells us about the punitive action taken.

The Election Commission has also stopped speaking on a ‘level playing field’ in elections. It was left to the Congress party treasurer and Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Maken this week to take the lid off what is well-known and in the public domain but not talked often enough. The Election Commission can take refuge in technicalities and say that in the absence of rules and indeed the law to control either donations to political parties or expenditure by political parties, it is not equipped to curb them. However, being the referee, it has the responsibility to lay down the rules of the game and curb the role of ‘money power’ and abuse of administrative authority during elections at least.

Let us look at what Ajay Maken and reports by the Reporters’ Collective revealed this week:

Till 2014 the bank balance of the ruling party and the principal opposition followed by and large a ration of 60:40, with donors giving the ruling party 60 per cent of its donations and 40 per cent distributed among different opposition parties. From the year 2004 to 2014, BJP’s bank balance increased from Rs 88 crore (2004) to Rs 150 crore (2009) and thereafter to Rs 295 crore (2014) after the Lok Sabha election in each of these years. The bank balance of the INC during this period moved from Rs 38 crore in 2004 to Rs 221 crore in 2009 and hovered around Rs 200 crore in 2014.

In the 10 years since 2014 though, BJP’s bank balance began to grow at a faster clip. From Rs 295 crore in 2014 it first went up to a staggering Rs 3,562 crore in 2019 and to an astounding Rs 10,160 crore five years later in 2024. During this same period bank balance of the Congress which had recovered to Rs 315 crore in 2019 declined to Rs 133 crore in 2024. The donors and electoral trusts which channelised donations to political parties and maintained a 60:40 ratio between the ruling coalition and the opposition donated 99 per cent of the funds to the BJP, leaving one per cent for the principal opposition party.

The Congress treasurer said in the Rajya Sabha that he perforce must speak to potential donors; and that they all tell him that they cannot donate even five per cent to the Congress because then central agencies like Income Tax authorities and the Enforcement Directorate start harassing them. The incestuous relationship between big biz and industry is unravelling as reports in recent weeks highlighted that the Tata Group donated Rs 758 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just weeks after the union cabinet approved its semiconductor unit plans in Gujarat and Assam on 29 February, 2024, barely weeks before the 2024 election was notified.

The same quid-pro-quo was reported this week by the Reporters’ Collective which found that most of the donors to the BJP in north-eastern states have been contractors and suppliers who were awarded government contracts.

What was worse was that the Income Tax department froze and sealed the bank accounts of the Congress in February, 2024 weeks before the Tatas donated Rs 758 crore to the BJP. The IT department sent a notice to the INC for alleged IT dues worth Rs 210 crore and unilaterally withdrew Rs 135 crore from the account before unfreezing them on 23 March, 2024, a week after the election was notified. The Election Commission did not respond to complaints and did nothing to restore even a semblance of the ‘level playing field’, the Congress MP lamented in Parliament.

Rs 10,160 crore of the BJP vs Rs 133 crore of the Congress is just the tip of the iceberg. During this same period, the BJP has bought land and built over 600 district offices across the country. It has also built its

imposing party headquarters and cornered the lion’s share of electoral bonds.

Is the Election Commission so toothless now that it is not able to even recommend to the government a set of restrictions on political donations? Why cannot the Election Commission impose curbs on the role of money at least for the duration of elections?