Afroz Alam Sahil, BeyondHeadlines
New Delhi. There are no doubts about big corporate, builders, schools, banks funding political parties but when you scroll down list of donors to Indian National Congress, one name clearly stands apart. It reads S. Queen Elizabeth.
Do not think too much, the queen on list of INC donors is not the queen of Britain; in fact she is from Bangalore and has donated 25 thousand rupees to Congress in year 2010-11.
The hue and cry on corporate funding to political parties has resulted in sharp decline in funds of parties. In election year 2008-09 congress received nearly 28 crores from big donors, this figure rose to nearly 85 crores in 2009-10 when congress formed the government at center but in 2010-11 the party received just 8 crores from big donors and surprisingly most of the donors are Individual party members who have contributed to the party.
Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of UPA and head of INC, is most consistent individual donor to the Party contributing a total of 287279 rupees since 2003-04. She has donated every year except 2007-08. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has also contributed to congress party in 2004-05, 2006-07 and 2010-11 a total of 119000 rupees.
Rahul Gandhi debuted in list of donors in year 2010-11 with a contribution of Rs 166500 to the party.
In 2010-11 Congress kept a distance with corporate and big donors and asked its own parliamentarians and legislators to contribute to the party. But we should not forget that till 2010 the party was heavily funded by big corporate houses. The donor lists have many surprises. Keep reading about political parties funding on BeyondHeadlines.
(This report is seventh in series of Political Parties and their funding, soon we will share information about funding of Other Parties)
First Story: http://beyondheadlines.in/2011/12/didi-and-behenji-ignore-rules-to-hide-maya/
Second Story: http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/01/most-parties-shy-away-from-sharing-funding-details/
Third Story: http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/01/gujarat-government-donated-to-modi%e2%80%99s-bjp/
Fourth Story: http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/01/canadian-funding-for-cpi/
Fifth Story: http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/01/vegetable-companies-fund-bjp-to-cry-against-fdi/
Sixth Story: http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/01/congress-lost-to-bjp-in-collecting-funds/