AAP donations plunge in 2025-26; company of MP who later joined BJP, Ashutosh Ranka among donors

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal. File | Photo Credit: PTI

The AAP has disclosed ₹12.10 crore in contributions for 2025-26, down 68% from the previous year, with nearly 83% of the amount coming from Prudent Electoral Trust and Trident Limited, a company founded by former party MP Rajinder Gupta.

According to the party's contribution report to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Ashutosh Ranka, now a co-convener of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) who had earlier served as an AAP spokesperson, made a donation of ₹21,100 to the party.

The contributions were made during 2025-26, before he took up his role in the CJP.

Prudent and Trident each gave ₹5 crore to the AAP. The remaining contributions totalled about ₹2.10 crore.

Mr. Gupta was elected to the Rajya Sabha on an AAP ticket in October 2025.

Trident's ₹5-crore cheque was dated January 9, 2026, when Mr. Gupta was with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. He joined the BJP in April this year.

AAP had disclosed ₹38.10 crore in contributions in 2024-25, more than three times the ₹11.06 crore it reported in 2023-24. Prudent was its largest donor in 2024-25, giving ₹16.40 crore.

The latest filing covers the first full financial year since the AAP lost power in Delhi in February 2025. The party continues to govern Punjab, where Trident is based. Its report contains 1,202 numbered entries.

Party chief Arvind Kejriwal is listed against three contributions of ₹10,000 each. Former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi made 12 payments of ₹3,500 each, totalling ₹42,000, while Punjab AAP president Aman Arora is listed against 12 payments of ₹10,000 each, totalling ₹1.20 lakh.

Reports filed by three other regional parties also show how their disclosed contributions have changed since the 2024 assembly elections.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which came to power in Andhra Pradesh, reported ₹58.25 crore in contributions for 2025-26, down from ₹83.03 crore the previous year. Prudent Electoral Trust gave it ₹45 crore, up from ₹40 crore in 2024-25.

The YSR Congress Party, which was ousted from power by the TDP, reported contributions worth ₹24.31 crore, down from about ₹140.04 crore in 2024-25. Its largest donor in the latest filing was Goodwood Sanctuary Private Limited, listed against ₹10 crore.

The Biju Janata Dal, which lost power in Odisha in 2024, listed no contributions above ₹20,000 in its latest report. It had disclosed ₹60 crore in 2024-25, all received in April and May 2024, before the election results were declared. The party had also filed nil reports for such contributions in 2022-23 and 2023-24, when electoral bonds were still available.

Under the rules, parties must identify donors whose contributions exceed ₹20,000 during a financial year. These contribution reports do not show a party's full annual income, which is reported separately in its audited accounts.

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