Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a donation of Rs 2,000 to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a ‘party fund’ ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He has also appealed to the citizens of India to join the ‘Donation for Nation Building’ campaign through the NaMo app.
PM Modi’s tweet and receipt
PM Modi took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share his donation receipt and his message to the people. He wrote, “I am happy to contribute to @BJP4India and strengthen our efforts to build a Viksit Bharat. I also urge everyone to be a part of #DonationForNationBuilding through the NaMoApp!”
BJP’s donation campaign and JP Nadda’s contribution
The BJP’s donation campaign was launched on March 1 by the national president JP Nadda, who donated Rs 1,000 to the party. He shared his donation details on platform X and encouraged others to follow his example. He wrote, “I have donated to the BJP to pledge my individual support to PM Modi’s visions for making India a ‘Viksit Bharat’. Let us all come forward and join the ‘Donation for Nation Building’ mass movement using the NaMo app”.
The donation campaign aims to mobilize the support and participation of the common people in the BJP’s mission to make India a developed and prosperous country.
BJP’s income and Congress’ decline
According to the Election Commission data, the BJP has collected a whopping Rs 719 crore in the fiscal year 2022-2023, which is a 17 per cent increase from the previous year. In 2021-2022, the party had received donations of Rs 614 crore.
On the other hand, the Congress party has seen a decline in its donations from Rs 95.4 crore in 2021-2022 to Rs 79 crore in 2022-2023.
Tax exemption and electoral bonds
All political donations are exempted from Income Tax under section 80GGB for companies and section 80 GGC for others as per the Income Tax Act, 1961. This means that the donors can claim tax benefits for their contributions to the political parties.
The BJP’s donation campaign was started after the Supreme Court banned the electoral bonds scheme, which was introduced by the BJP-led Central government in 2017. The electoral bonds allowed for anonymous funding to the political parties, without disclosing the identity of the donors. The electoral bonds constituted more than half of the BJP’s overall income in the past years.