The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) witnessed a significant surge in its declared donations, with contributions more than tripling in the last financial year. According to data submitted by the party to the Election Commission of India, AAP's funding jumped from Rs 11.06 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 38.1 crore in the 2024-25 financial year. This information pertains to donors who contributed amounts exceeding Rs 20,000.
Prudent Electoral Trust Leads as Top Contributor
A single entity accounted for a massive chunk of the party's total funds. The Prudent Electoral Trust contributed Rs 16.4 crore to the AAP, representing more than 43% of its total declared donations for the year. This trust is itself funded by major corporate houses including Jindal Steel and Power, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd, Bharti Airtel, Aurobindo Pharma, and Torrent Pharmaceuticals. Notably, in the same period, the Prudent Electoral Trust donated a staggering Rs 2,180.07 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Individual Donors Form the Backbone of AAP Funding
Beyond the major trust donation, the composition of AAP's donor list reveals a distinct pattern. The bulk of the party's funding came from individual contributors rather than corporate entities. An analysis of the top 300 donors shows a clear dominance of individuals. Among the top 100 donors, only four were organizations, which included one NGO. Furthermore, just eight companies featured in the entire list of the top 300 donors, highlighting the limited role of direct corporate contributions to the party's coffers.
In total, 17 companies contributed Rs 90.3 lakh to AAP. The largest organizational donor was Bharatha Swamukti Samsth, a Karnataka-based not-for-profit charitable trust, which donated Rs 30 lakh. Other notable corporate donors included Delhi-based Kuber Polyplast (Rs 25 lakh) and Advance Chemicals (Rs 11 lakh). Smaller business donations came from a diverse set of entities like a pharmaceutical firm, an automobile dealership, and a diagnostic laboratory.
Prominent individual donors featured high on the list. A Mumbai-based contributor, Talapady Umashanker Shen, who paid Rs 37.74 lakh online, emerged as the second-highest donor after the Prudent Trust. Mangalore-based Michael D’ Souza was the fourth among the top ten donors with a contribution of Rs 30 lakh.
Party Leaders Also Feature in Donor List
The donor list also included several senior AAP leaders, showcasing internal contributions. AAP national convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal donated Rs 10,000 on 12 separate occasions. This pattern of Rs 10,000 contributions was repeated by other senior figures. Punjab AAP president and minister Aman Arora also donated the same amount twelve times. Former Delhi CM Atishi Marlena contributed Rs 3,500 on 12 occasions. Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh and Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan each donated Rs 10,000 twelve times. Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains gave a total of Rs 62,000 in two instalments.
This data for 2024-25 marks the first full financial year after the Supreme Court scrapped the electoral bonds scheme. The year also represents a recovery for AAP's declared donations compared to the previous year's sharp dip. In 2023-24, the party had collected Rs 11 crore, a significant drop from earlier periods, particularly after it came to power in Punjab in 2022. That year, AAP had raised Rs 52.4 crore through electoral bonds from its top 10 donors alone.
