40 regional parties declare Rs 2,532 crore income in FY 23-24: ADR

New Delhi, Sep 10 (PTI) Around 40 regional political parties declared a combined income of Rs 2,532.09 crore in the financial year 2023-“24, with more than 70 per cent of their funds coming through electoral bonds, according to an analysis by poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) reported the highest income at Rs 685.51 crore, followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with Rs 646.39 crore, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) with Rs 297.81 crore, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with Rs 285.07 crore and YSR Congress with Rs 191.04 crore.

These top five parties accounted for 83.17 per cent of the total income declared by the 40 regional parties.

"The total income of the 40 regional parties for FY 2023-24 was Rs 2,532.096 crore. More than 70 per cent of the total income (Rs 1,796.024 crore) of the 40 regional political parties analysed for FY 2023-24 came from donations through electoral bonds," the report said.

The ADR said that audit reports of 20 regional parties were not available on the Election Commission of India's (ECI) website even 313 days after the last date for submission.

The audit reports of 20 parties out of the 40 analysed by ADR were available on the ECI website after a delay of 12 to 216 days from the due date for submission.

ADR noted that the overall income of regional parties rose sharply by 45.77 per cent, compared to FY 2022-“23 when their total income stood at Rs 1,736.85 crore. TMC registered the largest increase of Rs 312.93 crore, while the TDP and BJD also saw significant jumps.

The report said 27 regional parties declared that a part of their income was unspent while the expenses of 12 political parties exceeded the income collected during the year.

The BRS had Rs 430.60 crore from its income unspent, TMC Rs 414.92 crore, and BJD Rs 253.79 crore.

In contrast, 12 parties, including YSR Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party, and Janata Dal (United), spent more than their income, with YSR Congress overshooting expenses by nearly 55 per cent. The Goa Forward Party reported no income but declared expenses of Rs 1.56 lakh.

Of the total income, Rs 2,117.85 crore (83.64 per cent) came from voluntary contributions. Within this, donations through electoral bonds accounted for Rs 1,796.02 crore (70.93 per cent), declared by just 10 parties, including BRS, TMC, BJD, TDP, YSR Congress and DMK.

In comparison, Rs 321.82 crore was raised through other donations and contributions, while interest income accounted for Rs 274.90 crore (10.86 per cent).

As per the data shared by the State Bank of India in response to ADR's RTI application, electoral bonds worth Rs 4,507.56 crore were redeemed by parties in FY 2023-24. About 55.998 per cent (Rs 2,524.14 crore) of this has been redeemed by national parties and 39.84 per cent (Rs 1,796.02 crore) by regional parties.

In FY 2023-24, only three national parties (BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party) have received donations through electoral bonds, the report said. PTI UZM RUK RUK