PM donates Rs 2,000 as ‘party fund’ to BJP ahead of polls, urges all to contribute

NEW DELHI, MAR 3 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday donated Rs 2,000 as ‘party fund’ to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and urged everyone to contribute.

Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), PM Modi urged citizens to be a part of the ‘Donation for Nation Building’ campaign through NaMo app.

“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!,” PM Modi tweeted along with a receipt of his donation to the party.

The donation campaign of the BJP was started on March 1 by national president JP Nadda, who contributed a sum of Rs 1,000 to the party.

Nadda shared the information on platform X. 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”.

Notably, Election Commission data revealed that the BJP managed to collect a funding of Rs 719 crore in fiscal year 2022-2023, marking a 17 per cent surge from the previous year. In 2021-2022, the party had received donations of Rs 614 crore.

Meanwhile, donations to Congress have dwindled Rs 79 crore in fiscal year 2022-2023 from Rs 95.4 crore in 2021-2022 fiscal year.

All political donations are exempted from Income Tax u/s 80GGB for companies and u/s 80 GGC for others as per Income Tax Act, 1961.

The donation campaign by the ruling party was started weeks after the Supreme Court banned the electoral bonds, which were introduced by the BJP-led Central government that allowed for anonymous funding to political parties. Electoral bonds constituted more than half of BJP’s overall income.

-PTI