BBC hindi’s startling revelation of 1700 crores funding of Gujarat based six derecognised political parties
More Than Congress + AAP + BSP + CPI(M) Combined
What BBC Hindi found (Reporter: Shubhangi Mishra, 5 Sept 2026)
BBC Hindi, citing Election Commission data and ADR reports for FY 2023-24 (year of 2024 Lok Sabha elections), revealed:
– Six Gujarat-based Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) collected Rs 1,700 crore donation in one year.
Giving the Break-up the report says that the funds received by the various opposition political parties was as under :
– Aam Janmat Party – Rs 620 Cr
– Satyavadi Rakshak Party – Rs 330 Cr
– New India United Party – Rs 200 Cr
– Swatantrata Abhivyakti Party – Rs 200 Cr+
– Bharatiya National Janata Dal – ~Rs 200 Cr
– Garib Kalyan Party – Rs 138 Cr
What is interesting to note here is the hard fact that the 5 National Parties together got Rs 1,480 Cr in the same year while the six derecognised but registered with the Election Commission received more than 1700 crores as donations.
– Congress – Rs 281 Cr, AAP, BSP, CPI(M), NPP.
Out of these six parties one party namely Aam Janmat Party (Gujarat) alone got more than double of Congress.
Our of the all six derecognised parties 4 are registered at same locality – Naroda, Ahmedabad. 5 in Ahmedabad, 1 in Anand (Gujarat).
Upon indeoth investigations the Electoral activity of all the parties is NIL. These 6 parties fielded only 15 candidates in 2024 Lok Sabha. Aam Janmat Party fielded 4 candidates – they got total 2,400 votes. Satyavadi Rakshak fielded 4 candidates bagging 1,800 votes.
According to Dainik Bhaskar investigation in Aug 2025, 10 anonymous Gujarat parties got Rs 4,300 crore between 2019-20 to 2023-24 (covering 2019 LS, 2022 Gujarat Assembly, 2024 LS) but fielded only 43 candidates who got 54,069 votes total. 5 of those 10 are same as BBC’s 6.
However which is shocking and surprising is the fact that the Election Commission is completely silence. BBC said that it mailed EC multiple times for comment on how RUPPs get such huge funding without contesting – but EC did not respond till the report’s publication.
While investigating the matter IT Dept told BBC that it has examined some donations and recovered tax from donors in cases where donations were found non-genuine. CBDT data shows gap: In 2023-24 donors claimed exemption of Rs 10,975 Cr but the parties concerned declared only Rs 4,858 Cr receipts with Rs 6,116 Cr difference seems to be unaccounted woth suspected round-tripping.
BBC called it classic misuse of Section 29C of RP Act and 80GGB/80GGC of IT Act where donations to political parties are 100% tax exempt, making RUPPs a vehicle for black money laundering.
This is what triggered political storm, with AAP MP Sanjay Singh accusing BJP of running these Gujarat shell parties.
Speaking in Lucknow, the AAP MP, who himself was jailed in excise case and other party leaders arrested, said:
“This is BJP’s black money washing machine. These six parties are all Gujarat based. Who is in power in Gujarat for 27 years? BJP. Donation comes, tax exemption claimed, then cash returned after deducting service charge via CAs – this is what IT Dept itself said is happening in cinema halls, WhatsApp, Telegram syndicates. An opposition MP is arrested for Rs 500. I was kept in jail for months on false, fabricated, baseless charges. But when Rs 1,700 crore, Rs 4,300 crore, Rs 5,500 crore black money game is exposed by BBC, neither BJP government nor Election Commission takes notice. Why is EC silent? Why no ED, CBI raid on these Gujarat parties?”
He directly accused BJP of using these independent derecognised parties to divert funds into their pockets and demanded Supreme Court monitored probe by SIT and that EC should delist and IT Dept should prosecute under PMLA.
“EC says it has no legal authority to probe source of funds – only CBDT has mandate – and it can only delist if party does not contest for six years. Then who will act? This is open loot of electoral democracy,” Singh said.
He also pointed to 2022 EC proposal to lower anonymous donation threshold from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000 and cap cash donations at 20% or Rs 20 Cr which Law Ministry is sitting on.
BJP has not yet responded to AAP’s allegations.
