One of the most vocal voices in the party for organizational reforms, Kapil Sibal is one of the highest donors to his party as per the filing by the Congress to the Election Commission.
Kapil Sibal donated Rs 3 crore, while many party leaders including party president Sonia Gandhi contributed Rs 50,000 and Rahul Rs 54,000 to the party fund in 2019-20, as per the declaration to the Election Commission given by party interim treasurer Pawan Bansal.
Sibal, who is a lawyer by profession, was also the biggest individual contributor to the party fund among all the party leaders. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, late Ahmed Patel, former Defence Minister AK Antony, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury were among those who donated Rs 54,000 to the Congress fund.
The names of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Mausam Noor, who switched sides and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and the TMC respectively were also on the donor’s list. Scindia had rebelled which led to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh in March last year.
As per the Peoples Representation Act, all the political parties are required to submit details to the Election Commission regarding all donations above Rs 20,000 made to the party fund.
The Congress received more than Rs 139 crore in donations in 2019-20. The list shows that donations by ITC and associated companies were over Rs 19 crore, while Prudent Electoral Trust contributed Rs 31 crore.
The other members of the ‘G23’, the dissenting group, are also on the list of donors including Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Raj Babbar.
