In a significant shift in political funding patterns, donations made to parties through corporate-backed electoral trusts have skyrocketed in the first financial year following the Supreme Court's landmark decision to scrap the electoral bond scheme. The total contributions surged by over 200%, revealing a heavy concentration of funds flowing to the ruling party at the Centre.
A Three-Fold Surge in Trust Donations
According to the latest contribution reports submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI), nine electoral trusts donated a massive sum of Rs 3,811 crore to various political parties during the financial year 2024-2025. This marks a dramatic increase from the Rs 1,218 crore donated via the same route in the previous fiscal year 2023-2024, representing a jump of more than three times.
The data, available as of December 20, 2025, pertains to 13 of the 19 currently registered electoral trusts. Out of these, nine trusts reported active contributions, while four—Janhit, Paribartan, Jaihind, and Jaybharath—declared nil donations for the year.
BJP Garners Lion's Share of Trust Funds
The distribution of these funds shows a pronounced tilt towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party received a staggering Rs 3,112 crore from the electoral trusts, which constitutes more than 82% of the total donations channeled through this mechanism.
In contrast, the principal opposition party, the Indian National Congress, received just under 8% of the total, amounting to Rs 299 crore. All other political parties combined received the remaining 10%, or approximately Rs 400 crore.
It is crucial to note that funding through electoral trusts is just one channel for political donations, though a major one. The total voluntary contributions received by parties are higher, as they also include direct donations via cheques, demand drafts, and digital transfers.
Key Trusts and Their Corporate Backers
A closer look at the reports highlights the major players and their corporate donors:
Prudent Electoral Trust emerged as the single largest donor, contributing a total of Rs 2,668 crore. Out of this, a bulk of Rs 2,180.07 crore went to the BJP. The trust received funds from prominent corporate houses including Jindal Steel and Power, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd, Bharti Airtel, Aurobindo Pharma, and Torrent Pharmaceuticals. It also made smaller donations to the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Progressive Electoral Trust, which accumulated a corpus of Rs 917 crore, donated Rs 914.97 crore, with 80.82% (Rs 740 crore) going to the BJP. The primary contributors to this trust were Tata Group companies, such as Tata Sons Private Limited, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Steels Limited, Tata Motors Limited, and Tata Power Company Limited.
Other significant trusts and their patterns include:
- New Democratic Electoral Trust: Received Rs 160 crore from Mahindra Group companies and donated Rs 150 crore to the BJP.
- Harmony Electoral Trust: Donated Rs 30.15 crore to the BJP, funded largely by Bharat Forge Ltd, Saarloha Advanced Materials, and Kalyani Steel Ltd.
- Triumph Electoral Trust: Gave Rs 21 crore out of Rs 25 crore received to the BJP, with CG Power and Industrial Solutions as the main contributor.
- Jankalyan Electoral Trust: Distributed its Rs 19 lakh corpus equally between the BJP and Congress.
- Janpragati Electoral Trust: Donated its entire Rs 1 crore received from KEC International Limited to the Shiv Sena (UBT).
The Context: Post-Electoral Bond Transparency
This surge follows the Supreme Court's February 2024 judgment that struck down the electoral bond scheme, calling it unconstitutional. The scheme had allowed for anonymous political funding. In the 2023-24 financial year, the BJP had received Rs 3,967.14 crore in voluntary contributions, of which 43% (Rs 1,685.62 crore) came from now-defunct electoral bonds.
With bonds scrapped, corporates and individuals can now donate via electoral trusts, cheques, demand drafts, or digital transfers. The trust route offers a layer of aggregation but, unlike bonds, mandates transparency. Companies donate to a trust, which then distributes the funds to parties, with all transactions required to be declared in contribution reports submitted to the ECI.
The latest data underscores how electoral trusts have rapidly become a primary conduit for corporate political funding in the new regulatory environment, raising fresh questions about the concentration of financial resources in Indian politics.
