Visualization of donations to Political Parties
Political parties run the nation and our lives in turn. So why not have a look at the money that runs the political parties?
Let's take a look at the donations to Aam Aadmi Party this year 
Some sample views: Donations from July Country-wise contributions State with highest donations
* Data last updated @ 12:45 22nd Aug 2013 IST
This entire visualization was done using the information about donations available on the Aam Aadmi Party website. You can browse through the donors' list here. It didn't even require sending an email to anyone from AAP asking for any additional details.
Now let's take a look at our other major political parties ...
Congress (INC) 
Donations received this year:
Data Not Disclosed!
Details of all donors for previous years:
Not Disclosed!*
BJP 
Donations received this year:
Data Not Disclosed!
Details of all donors for previous years:
Not Disclosed!*
BSP 
Donations received this year:
Data Not Disclosed!
Details of all donors for previous years:
Not Disclosed!
NCP 
Donations received this year:
Data Not Disclosed!
Details of all donors for previous years:
Not Disclosed!*
CPM 
Donations received this year:
Data Not Disclosed!
Details of all donors for previous years:
Not Disclosed!*
Only if you can spare a lot of time and patience to approach the political parties and the Election Commission(and the IT department) can you obtain any of these details. ADR tried doing that to obtain and analyse the data from 2004 to 2011. All parties(except CPM) responded saying that they don't come under the RTI act (BJP apparently didn't even bother to respond). Political parties are required to reveal information about the donors only for donations exceeding Rs 20,000. So, our parties abuse this loophole and keep those amounts to the minimum.
You can at the maxium get detailed information of only less than 9% of the Rs 4000+ crore income of these parties.
Some parties like the BSP have the shameless audacity to claim that they have 0 donations (Yes .. ZERO DONATIONS) exceeding Rs. 20,000 out of their total income of Rs. 438 crores - CPM at least says 0.8% of its income is from such donations.
| Party | Total Income (Crores of Rs) | Donations > Rs 20,000 (Crores of Rs) | % of donations > Rs 20,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| INC | 2008.71 | 177.96 | 8.86% |
| BJP | 994.76 | 153.64 | 15.44% |
| BSP | 438.39 | 0 | 0% |
| CPI | 8.43 | 3.20 | 37.98% |
| CPM | 417.26 | 3.32 | 0.80% |
| NCP | 160.82 | 9.79 | 6.09% |
Some parties like the BSP have the shameless audacity to claim that they have 0 donations (Yes .. ZERO DONATIONS) exceeding Rs. 20,000 out of their total income of Rs. 438 crores - CPM at least says 0.8% of its income is from such donations.
The Central Information Commission(CIC) on 3rd June 2013 gave the judgement that political parties too come under the purview of RTI act and ordered INC, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPI-M and NCP to appoint information commissioners within 50 days. What did our parties do? Instead of complying with these orders or may be even challenge the order in the high court, they ganged up to amend the RTI act itself making an exception for the political parties.
And they are very serious about this. Within 2 months (at a pace that we never see them handling any problems facing the country) a bill is put forward in the parliament for amending the RTI act. For a comparison, the Jan Lokpal bill was introduced in the Parliament by Santh Bhushan in 1968 and it surely is going to hit a half century sitting in the parliament.
And they are very serious about this. Within 2 months (at a pace that we never see them handling any problems facing the country) a bill is put forward in the parliament for amending the RTI act. For a comparison, the Jan Lokpal bill was introduced in the Parliament by Santh Bhushan in 1968 and it surely is going to hit a half century sitting in the parliament.
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers
So what? What's the big deal if you can't visualize the donations of these parties? Why this rant?
The point is not about fancy graphs and visualizations, it's about transparency. You are giving power to the political parties to rule you and decide your future. It's your right to at least know where they are getting their funds from.
And it's not limited to this. The Supreme court on July 10th gave a ruling that an MLA or MP convicted of any criminal charges immediately gets disqualified and barring people in custody from contesting elections. 'They' don't like this either. They gang up again and are on the way to amend the Representation of the People Act again to over-rule the Supreme court judgement. This one has an even faster turn around time - just 1 month for action in the parliament!
And it's not limited to this. The Supreme court on July 10th gave a ruling that an MLA or MP convicted of any criminal charges immediately gets disqualified and barring people in custody from contesting elections. 'They' don't like this either. They gang up again and are on the way to amend the Representation of the People Act again to over-rule the Supreme court judgement. This one has an even faster turn around time - just 1 month for action in the parliament!
You are using abstract, sentimental words like power, rights and responsibility? Why should share their financial details with the people?
We have the right to know the details because all the political parties are directly getting benefits worth thousands of crores of rupees directly from the government. That's our taxes going into the pockets of the parties.
The political parties are happily benefiting from tax payers' money; would the parties give all these benefits up and pay back for the benefits already received? NO! - So yes people do have the right to get information from the political parties.
- The land allotted to a few political parties in New Delhi alone is worth more than Rs. 2,600 crores
- Tax exemptions given to the parties every year run into hundreds of crores of rupees
- Bungalows, offices and houses provided to the parties cost a few more tens of crores every year
The political parties are happily benefiting from tax payers' money; would the parties give all these benefits up and pay back for the benefits already received? NO! - So yes people do have the right to get information from the political parties.
So, what do you say we do?
Come election day, at the least Go vote out corrupt politicians. If you can do more, go donate to parties like AAP (Nay, Lok Satta Party doesn't cut the deal!) trying to bring in some transparency into the system.
© vijaya chandra vupputuri - twine.in