New Delhi: Regional political parties declared a combined income of ₹2,532.09 crore in FY 2023–24, with over 70% of funds raised through electoral bonds, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) reported the highest income at ₹685.51 crore, followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) at ₹646.39 crore, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) at ₹297.81 crore, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) at ₹285.07 crore, and YSR Congress at ₹191.04 crore. Together, these five accounted for 83.17% of the total income.
ADR noted that ₹1,796.02 crore (70.93%) of the total income came through electoral bonds, declared by just 10 parties including BRS, TMC, BJD, TDP, YSR Congress and DMK. Voluntary contributions overall stood at ₹2,117.85 crore (83.64%), while ₹321.82 crore came from other donations and ₹274.90 crore (10.86%) from interest income.
Despite legal deadlines, audit reports of 20 regional parties were missing from the Election Commission of India’s website 313 days after the last submission date. Reports of the remaining 20 were uploaded after delays ranging from 12 to 216 days.
The total income of regional parties rose 45.77% from FY 2022–23, when it was ₹1,736.85 crore. The sharpest increase was registered by TMC (₹312.93 crore), with significant jumps for TDP and BJD as well.
On spending, 27 parties reported unspent income, while 12 parties exceeded their earnings. BRS retained ₹430.60 crore, TMC ₹414.92 crore, and BJD ₹253.79 crore as surplus. In contrast, YSR Congress overspent its income by nearly 55%, while DMK, Samajwadi Party and JD(U) also reported higher expenses than income. The Goa Forward Party reported no income but declared expenses of ₹1.56 lakh.
Data from the State Bank of India, shared in response to ADR’s RTI, revealed that parties redeemed ₹4,507.56 crore worth of electoral bonds in FY 2023–24. Of this, ₹2,524.14 crore (55.99%) was encashed by national parties, while ₹1,796.02 crore (39.84%) went to regional parties. Notably, only three national parties — BJP, Congress and AAP — received electoral bond donations during the year.
