Hyderabad: Twenty-eight regional political parties in India received donations worth Rs 216.765 cr, from 2119 donations during Financial Year 2022-23 with former Telangana Chief Minister KCR's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leading with Rs 154.03 Crore in donations, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), has said.
The ADR report focuses on donations declared by regional political parties, during the Financial Year 2022-23, as submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Out of the 35 of 57 regional parties analyzed by the ADR, only 18 had submitted their donations reports to the ECI in the stipulated time period while 17 other regional parties had delayed their submission by a minimum of 2 days to 164 days.
Donations To Regional Parties During FY 2022-23
According to the ADR, under Section 29C (1) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, political parties are required to prepare a report providing details of contributions in excess of Rs 20,000 from any person in a particular financial year to avail 100% tax exemption. However, in FY 2022-23, we see that four regional parties (DMK, MNS, AIMIM and AD(Soneylal)) have also provided details of donations received below Rs 20,000 in their contribution reports, the report said.
The total amount of donations declared by 28 regional parties analysed by the ADR, including both above and below Rs 20,000, was Rs 216.765 cr, from 2119 donations. No donations have been declared by NPF, BJD, DMDK, GFP, SDF, INLD and JKNC for FY 2022-23, it added.
As per the ADR report, BRS leads with Rs 154.03 cr from 47 donations followed by YSR-Congress which has declared receiving Rs 16.003 cr from 5 donations. TDP declared receiving Rs 11.9239 cr that is the third highest amongst all regional parties. DMK and CPI have declared total donations Rs 7.2228 cr and Rs 7.132 cr, respectively as per the ADR report.
Significantly, 90.56% or Rs 196.3117 cr of the total donations received by regional parties have been received solely by top 5 regional parties.
Comparison Of Donations Between FY 2021-22 And FY 2022-23
As per the ADR report, JMM, JJP, TDP and AITC saw the highest percentage increase in their income from donations between FY 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Between FY 2021-22 and 2022-23, donations to JMM increased by 3685%, followed by JJP for which it was 1997.63%, for TDP it was 1795.69%, and for AITC the increase was 368.84%, it said. Moreover, two parties (NDPP and AIADMK) did not receive any donations during FY 2021-22, but parties have declared donations for FY 2022-23. NDPP declared Rs 1.217 cr and AIADMK declared Rs 1.05 lakhs, the ADR report added.
As per the report, DMDK, GFP, MGP, SP and SAD witnessed maximum decrease in the percentage of donations received between FY 2021-22 and 2022-23, of 100%, 100%, 99.24%, 99.10% and 89.10% respectively. SDF, BJD and JKNC have not declared any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23, it said.
State-wise Donations To Regional Parties During FY 2022-23
According to the ADR report, segregation of donations according to location was made based on the addresses provided by the parties in their donations report to the ECI.
Donations declared by the regional parties contained details of donations received from 25 States/Union Territories/common capitals according to the declared address of donors, the report said.
Regional parties have declared receiving the highest donations of Rs 107.092 cr from Delhi, followed by Rs 62.997 cr from Telangana and Rs 8.3916 cr from Andhra Pradesh.
Donors From Corporates/ Business Sectors Vs. Individual Donors
As per the ADR report, 169 donations from corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 169.204 cr were made to the regional parties while 1827 individual donors donated Rs 45.243 cr to the parties during FY 2022-23.
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