76% Income Of Regional Parties' Came From Unknown Sources Last Year: Report

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New Delhi: The income of regional political parties from unknown sources in the financial year 2021-22 amounted to Rs 887.55 crore, accounting for 76 percent of their total earnings, according to a report by the Association of Democratic Reform (ADR).

The report suggested that the fresh figure indicates a "rise in parties` income" from unknown sources in comparison to 2020-21 when the total income of regional parties accounted for Rs 530.70 crore, of which Rs 263.93 crore or 49.73 percent came from unknown sources.

In its report, the ADR said: "Donations over Rs 20,000 are defined to have come from known sources as their donor details are available through contribution reports as submitted by regional parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

"The `unknown` sources are income declared in the annual audit report by these parties but without giving the source of income." It said that the unknown sources are income declared in the Annual Audit reports but without giving a source of income for donations below Rs 20,000. "Such unknown sources include `donations via electoral bonds`, `sale of coupons`, `relief fund`, `miscellaneous income`, `voluntary contributions`, `contribution from meetings or morchas`, etc.

"The details of donors of such voluntary contributions are not available in the public domain," the report pointed out. "Total income of political parties from unknown sources (income specified in the audit reports whose sources are unknown): Rs 887.551 crore, which is 76.14 percent of the total income of the parties."

The report also highlighted that of this Rs 887.55 crore, 93.26 percent or Rs 827.76 crore came from electoral bonds whereas income from the sale of coupons formed 4.32 percent which is Rs 38.35 crore and voluntary contributions below Rs 20,000 formed 2.40 percent, which is Rs 21.29 crore in income from unknown sources of 27 regional parties.

The ADR stated that initially, 54 regional (recognized) parties were considered for this analysis. "However, only 28 of them had filed both their Annual Audit and Contribution reports while the remaining parties had only submitted one out of the two reports," it said.

"While the total income of 27 regional political parties in FY 2021-22 amounts to Rs 1,165.58 crore, the total income of political parties from known donors stands at Rs 145.42 crore, which is 12.48 percent of their total income," the report said.

It also said that the total income of political parties from other known sources like membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levies, etc. is Rs 132.61 crore or 11.38 percent of the total income.