5 regional parties declared donations of Rs 250.60 cr through electoral bonds in 2020-21: ADR

Five regional parties have declared they received donations amounting to Rs 250.60 crore through electoral bonds in 2020-21, according to the poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

According to ADR's latest report, the total income of 31 regional parties for the 2020-21 financial year was Rs 529.416 crore, and their total declared expenditure was Rs 414.028 crore.

The five parties that incurred the highest expenditures that year are the DMK (Rs 218.49 crore), TDP (Rs 54.769 crore), and AIADMK (Rs 42.37 crore), JDU (Rs 24.35 crore) and the TRS (Rs 22.35 crore), it said.

The total income of the top five parties amounted to Rs 434.255 crore, which was 82.03 per cent of the total income of the political parties analysed, collectively, the report said.

Under voluntary contributions, the political parties collected Rs 250.60 crore or 47.34 per cent of their income from donations through electoral bonds, while other donations and contributions amounted to Rs 126.265 crore or 23.85 per cent for FY 2020-21, it said.

Only five out of the 31 regional parties that were analysed declared donations through electoral bonds. Of the total income of the 31 regional parties during FY 2020-21, Rs 84.64 crore or 15.99 per cent was interest income, the report said.

The total income of 29 out of the 31 parties decreased from Rs 800.26 crore in FY 2019-20 to Rs 520.492 crore in FY 2020-21, a fall of 34.96 per cent, it said.

The ADR said there are 17 regional parties who have declared a part of their income as remaining unspent for FY 2020-21.

Among the national parties, the audit report of the BJP for FY 2020-21 was unavailable on the ECI website at the time of preparation of this report, it added.