Audit reports of BJP, Cong, 33 others unavailable on EC

Electoral bonds are leading source of income for parties

The deadline of Oct. 31 has passed for the submission of audit reports stating income, expenditure and sources of income for political parties.

Only three national parties -- the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) -- seem to have summited audit reports, according to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Audit reports of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National Congress (INC), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were unavailable on the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Among the regional political parties, only 22 of 47 parties submitted audit reports, while audit reports of 30 regional parties including the CPI, the DMK, the RJD, and the Shiv Sena were unavailable on the ECI website.

Audit reports of three national and 22 regional parties showed that they earned Rs 1,163.17 crore in total. The income earned by the three national parties accounted for 54.22% or Rs 630.67 crore of the total amount earned.

Among the regional players, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) from Odisha accounted for 21.43% of the total income standing at Rs 249.31 crore. The BJD was followed by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) from West Bengal, which accounted for 16.56% or Rs 192.65 crore of the total income. The K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) earned 16.22% or Rs 188.71 crore of the total income.

Sources of income

Voluntary donations remained the largest source of income for these political parties. Seventy-six per cent of the income earned by political parties came from voluntary donations. Within such donations, 50.54% of the money was credited through electoral bonds. Of the three national parties, only the Trinamool Congress reported receiving voluntary donations through electoral bonds at Rs 97.28 crore. Five of the 22 regional parties earned Rs 490.59 crore in donations through electoral bonds.

Other top sources of income included donations, contributions, membership fees, subscription fees, interest income and FDRs.

Sharp jump in income

Among the 25 political parties who submitted audits, 17 parties have shown an increase in income from FY18 to FY19, while six parties have shown a decline in income during this period. Barring the Punjab Democratic Alliance and the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), who had not submitted income tax returns to the ECI for FY18, the total income of the 23 parties jumped 251% or by Rs 825.68 crore from Rs 329.46 crore in FY18 to Rs 1,155.14 crore in FY19.

The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led BJD also reported the highest increase in income of Rs 235.19 cr from FY 2017-18 to FY 2018-19. The AITC from West Bengal and the YSR-Congress (YSR-C) from Andhra Pradesh saw an increase of Rs 187.48 crore and Rs 166.84 crore respectively.

Party expenditure

The total declared expenditure of the three national and 22 regional parties for FY19 was Rs 442.73 crore, as per the report. The three parties accounted for 48.51% of the total expenditure reported in FY19.

The YSR-Congress, the CPI and the Samajwadi Party (SP) were the top three parties with the highest expenditure. The YSR-Congress spent Rs 87.684 crore, followed by the CPM, which spent Rs 76.150 crore, and the SP, which spent Rs 50.92 crore.

A total of 19 political parties, including the three national parties, have declared to not have spent a part of their income earned in FY19. Six political parties -- the SP, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Indian National Lok Dal, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Naga People's Front -- spent more than the income collected during the year. Interestingly, the AITC’s reserve at the end of the fiscal year was the largest at 94% of its total income earned this year. The NDPP from Nagaland and the TRS ended the fiscal year with a reserve of 87% and 84%, respectively.