Published 12:58 IST, February 21st 2021
CPI(M) received Rs 10 crore donation from ally DMK during 2019 Elections: Report with EC
The Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM) received Rs 10 crore from ally DMK as donations during the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, their contribution report said
The Communist Party of India Marxist - CPI(M) - received Rs 10 crore from its ally DMK as donations during the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, a contribution report filed by the party with the EC revealed. DMK made the Rs 10 crore donations via eight different NEFT transfers on April 5, 9, and 11 in 2019, constituting more than 50% of the total donations received by the Left party. CPI(M) disclosed that it had received Rs 19.7 crore during 2019-2020 as opposed to Rs 3.3 crore in 2018-19, indicating a mammoth rise in the money flowing into the Left party's account. Apart from DMK, CPI(M) received a Rs 2.65 crore donation from Muthoot Finances, a Rs 50 lakh donation from a Hyderabad-based engineering company and others from jewellers in Kerala.
CPI(M) declared expenditure worth Rs 34.9 crore for the 2019 General Elections throughout the country. Meanwhile, DMK also made a Rs 15 crore donation to the CPI, which is also its ally, in 2019. CPI's(M) election expenditure statement for the Lok Sabha polls filed on September 6, 2019, did not mention the contributions from DMK but reported Rs 11.3 crore as the expenditure of its Tamil Nadu wing and Rs 15 crore as the receipts. DMK's election expenditure statement for 2019, however, mentions the Rs 10 crore donation made to the Left party on three different dates.
Meanwhile, the Congress party received in total a sum of Rs 139 crores as donations during 2019-2020 revealed the contributions report published in the public domain by the Election Commission. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal was the highest individual donor - having given Rs 3 crore to the party fund while former PM Manmohan Singh contributed Rs 1,08,000. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul donated Rs 50,000 and Rs 54,000 respectively between April 1, 2019, and May 31, 2020. Other Congress leaders such as Shashi Tharoor, Anand Sharma, and Gulam Nabi Azad made donations of Rs 54,000. Milind Deora and Raj Babbar donated over Rs 1 lakh to the party. Apart from the party leaders, Congress received Rs 19 crore from ITC and its associate companies while Prudent Electoral Trust contributed Rs 31 crore.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2021
The two warring factions in AIADMK - of Deputy CM O Pannerselvam (OPS) and CM E Palaniswamy (EPS), reconciled after the party named incumbent E Palaniswamy as its CM candidate and O Panneerselvam as the chief of the 11-member steering committee. With AIADMK announcing it will continue its national alliance with BJP, the saffron party is yet to officially announce its state-level alliance. Meanwhile, ex-CM Karunanidhi's successor - DMK chief MK Stalin eyes his maiden CM term as DMK cannot afford to lose a third straight Assembly election after sweeping the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with 38 seats. Arvind Kejriwal's AAP is also set to make its debut in Tamil Nadu after MNM chief Kamal Haasan initiated talks of an alliance for the upcoming Assembly polls.
(With PTI inputs)
Updated 12:58 IST, February 21st 2021