AAP's donations fall 68% in 2025-26, as Trident Group and Prudent Electoral Trust supply most of the funds

The Aam Aadmi Party’s disclosed donations fell sharply to ₹12.10 crore in 2025-26, down 68 per cent from ₹38.10 crore the previous year, according to its contribution report filed with the Election Commission. The decline marks the party’s first full financial year since it lost power in Delhi in February 2025, though it continues to govern Punjab.

Two donors accounted for nearly 83 per cent of AAP’s disclosed contributions for the year. Trident Limited gave ₹5 crore through a cheque dated January 9, 2026, at a time when the company’s founder, Rajinder Gupta, was still associated with the party. Gupta, a former AAP Rajya Sabha MP, later joined the BJP following a rebellion led by Raghav Chadha in April this year. Prudent Electoral Trust also contributed ₹5 crore, having been AAP’s biggest donor the previous year as well, when it gave ₹16.40 crore. Trident’s contribution alone made up more than 41 per cent of the party’s total disclosed donations for the year. The remaining contributions came to roughly ₹2.10 crore.

The CJP spokesperson’s donation

The filing also drew attention for a ₹21,100 contribution from Ashutosh Ranka, now a co-convener of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical outfit that has positioned itself as a critique of mainstream politics. Under Election Commission rules, parties must publicly identify any contributor whose donations exceed ₹20,000 in a financial year, which is why Ranka’s relatively modest donation appeared alongside the party’s much larger corporate contributions.

What the leadership gave

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal is listed as having made three separate contributions of ₹10,000 each, totalling ₹30,000 for the year. Other party leaders, including Delhi’s former chief minister Atishi and Punjab minister Aman Arora, also appear among the individual contributors, according to the filing.

AAP’s disclosed contributions have swung sharply over the past three years, rising from ₹11.06 crore in 2023-24 to ₹38.10 crore in 2024-25, before falling back to ₹12.10 crore in 2025-26. The drop coincides with the party’s loss of power in Delhi, a state that had been its principal base and, by extension, a significant source of political and financial patronage.

The wider donor landscape

Prudent Electoral Trust’s presence in AAP’s filing is part of a broader pattern. The trust has also been reported as the Telugu Desam Party’s largest donor this year, contributing ₹45 crore. Historically, the trust has been the single largest channel of electoral trust funding in the country, with roughly 76 per cent of its contributions between 2014 and 2023 going to the BJP, and it has also been a significant donor to the Congress in past years. AAP’s ₹12.10 crore for the year is a fraction of what larger national parties disclosed for 2023-24, when the BJP reported over ₹2,600 crore in donations and the Congress over ₹281 crore, underlining how sharply AAP’s fortunes have narrowed since exiting government in Delhi.