New Delhi: Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has emerged as the party with the highest income among regional parties, as per a report published by Association for Democratic Reform (ADR).
ADR’s report analyzed the total income and expenditure incurred by 37 regional parties during financial year 2018-19. “Political parties have multiple sources of funding and thus accountability and transparency should be an important aspect of their functioning.”
Besides BJD, other regional parties analysed include the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the YSR Congress, the Telugu Desam Party, the Janata Dal-Secular, the Samajwadi Party, the AIADMK, the Janata Dal-United, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, etc.
“The total income declared by 37 regional political parties was Rs 1,089.60 crore. The BJD has the highest income of Rs 249.31 crore amongst all the regional parties,” the ADR said, adding that the parties primarily earn their income from voluntary contributions and donations.
“YSR-C received 99.998 percent of its income from donations and contributions, while BJD received 97.41 percent of its income from grants, donations and contributions.”
It was stated that out of the 37 political parties, at least seven received donations through electoral bonds amounting to a total of Rs 578.49 crore.
“BJD received the highest donations worth Rs 213.5 crore or 85.64 percent of its total income through electoral bonds followed by the TRS declaring electoral bonds worth Rs 141.5 crore or 74.98 percent,” it stated.
According to the report, parties primarily spent their income on election expenses. “12 out of 37 regional political parties incurred more than 50 per cent of their total expenditure on election campaign or election propaganda.”
YSR Congress Party spent a maximum of Rs 53.136 crore followed by the BJD which spent Rs 44.74 crore on election campaign expenditure.
