Manmohan Singh Dies; BJP Raked in Nearly 10 Times More Money in 2023-24 than Congress; Chinese Plan to Dam Yarlung Tsangpo Raises Fears in India

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Tanweer Alam, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Snapshot of the day

December 26, 2024

Siddharth Varadarajan

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh died today after a brief illness. He was 92. The economist turned politician became India’s PM in 2004 and won a second term in 2009.

Electoral bonds no longer exist but money power continues to un-level the electoral playing field. Going by the disaggregated data dump on financial contributions to political parties that the Election Commission uploaded a few days back, the Bharatiya Janata Party raked in nearly 10 times as much from (1) individuals and firms donating Rs 20,000 or more, and (2) donations from various ‘election trusts’ than its main national level rival, the Congress party, in the 2023-24 financial year.