Regional parties declare over Rs 200 crore in donations in FY 2022-23: ADR

New Delhi: 35 regional parties together collected Rs 216.76 crore as donations in 2022-23 with BRS topping the list, accounting for 71.06 per cent or Rs 154.03 crore of the total contributions.

Of this, 31 parties have reported donations of Rs 20,000 and above as mandated by law while four parties -- DMK, MNS, AIMIM and Apna Dal (Soneylal) -- have also provided details of donations below Rs 20,000 in their contribution reports submitted to the Election Commission.

The report by Association for Democratic Rights (ADR) showed that only 35 f the 57 registered regional parties submitted the contribution report to the EC, which is a mandatory requirement. Of the 35 which filed the reports, 17 of them did not submit on time.

Among the parties, seven of them -- NPF, BJD, DMDK, GFP, SDF, INLD and National Conference -- said that they did not receive any contribution. "The total amount of donations declared by 28 regional parties analysed, including both above and below Rs 20,000, was Rs 216.765 crore, from 2119 donations," the report said.

Of the Rs 154.03 crore donated to BRS, Rs 138.97 crore came from corporates.

The ADR said YSR Congress came second after BRS, receiving Rs 16.003 crore followed by TDP Rs 11.92 crore, DMK Rs 7.22 crore and CPI Rs 7.13 crore. This would mean that 90.56% or Rs 196.31 crore of the total donations received by regional parties have been received solely by these five parties.

The analysis also showed JMM, JJP, TDP and Trinamool Congress saw the highest percentage increase in their income from donations between 2020-21 and 2022-23. Donations to JMM increased by 3685 per cent, followed by JJP for which it was 1997.63 per cent, for TDP it was 1795.69 per cent, and for Trinamool Congress, the increase was 368.84 per cent, the report said.

Out of the total donations of Rs 216.76 crore, Rs 21.45 lakh from 43 donations was received in cash, which was 0.09 per cent of the total donations. Maximum donations in cash were declared by Muslim League, which collected a total of Rs 14.20 lakh, followed by CPI with Rs 7.25 lakh.

Among the states, donors from Kerala made the highest donations of Rs 9.09 lakh in cash followed by donors from West Bengal who donated a total of Rs 5.91 lakh in cash. "Regional parties have declared receiving the highest donations of Rs 107.09 crore from Delhi, followed by Rs 62.99 crore from Telangana and Rs 8.391 crore from Andhra Pradesh.