Political parties are not eligible to receive donations from any foreign source but both the ruling Congress and the BJP accepted funds from London-based group Vedanta, according to a newly published NGO report.

NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) portrayed a very corrupt picture of India political parties in its report, which claims that political parties have pocketed a whopping Rs 4,662 crore via donations, many of which were given by foreign groups.

According to the report, the congress received a donation of Rs 6 crore from London-listed Vedanta Group’s subsidiary Sterlite Industries during the 2004-05 and 2009-10 fiscal years; while the BJP accepted Rs 3.5 crore from Madras Aluminium Co., which is also a subsidiary of the Vedanta Group.

Since 2004, the Congress and the BJP have pocketed Rs 2,008 crore and Rs 994 crore in donations respectively.

The CPI (M) pocketed Rs 417 crore from donations between 2004 and 2011, while BSP, CPI and SP earned 484 crore, Rs 6.7 crore, and Rs 278 crores, respectively.

Jagdee Chhokar, founder member of the ADR, described political funding as a black box of the political parties.

Speaking at a media conference, Chhokar said, “The basic source of corruption in this country is political funding. By regulating political funding, we cannot end corruption but can make a major dent.”

The Election Commission has made it mandatory for all political parties to submit statements of all donations. But, more than a dozen parties, including the Trinamul Congress, NCP, AIADMK, Akali Dal, National Conference and JDU haven’t submitted any such statements with the Election Commission.