Regional political parties report Rs 200 Cr in donations, with Kerala leading in cash contributions

Regional political parties declared donations worth over Rs 200 crore for the financial year 2022-23, with JMM, JJP, TDP, and TMC reporting the highest increases in their income from donations. According to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 2,119 donations declared by 28 regional parties, amounting to Rs 216.765 crore, were analysed.

The ADR report highlighted the dominance of a few parties in the total donations received. Out of 57 regional parties analysed, only 18 submitted their donation reports to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on time. A total of 17 other parties delayed their submissions, with delays ranging from two to 164 days. Notably, seven parties—including the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC)—declared no donations for the year. There were also concerns about gaps in the disclosure of donor details.

Massive Increase in Donations for Some Parties
The report highlighted a staggering rise in donations for some parties compared to the previous financial year. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) reported a jaw-dropping 3,685 per cent rise in donations, followed by the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) at 1,997 per cent, and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) at 1,795 per cent. However, parties such as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) reported sharp declines in donations, with drops of 99.1 per cent and 89.1 per cent, respectively.

BRS Tops Donation List
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) topped the list of highest recipients, declaring Rs 154.03 crore from just 47 donations. The YSR Congress Party followed with Rs 16 crore from five donors, and the TDP reported Rs 11.92 crore. Five parties—BRS, YSR Congress, TDP, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and Communist Party of India (CPI)—accounted for 90.56 per cent of the total donations declared.

Transparency Concerns with Donor Information
ADR raised concerns regarding transparency in donation reporting. Five regional parties declared Rs 96.2 lakh in donations without providing Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) of the donors, while address details for Rs 3.36 crore worth of donations were missing. Furthermore, 204 donations, totalling Rs 165.73 crore, lacked complete information about the mode of contribution.

Cash Donations Account for a Small Proportion
Cash donations accounted for only 0.099 per cent of the total contributions, amounting to Rs 21.45 lakh from 43 donations. Kerala led with Rs 9.09 lakh in cash donations, followed by West Bengal with Rs 5.91 lakh.

Corporate Donations Dominate the Landscape
Corporate and business entities were the largest contributors, with Rs 169.2 crore, comprising 78 per cent of the total donations. Individual donors contributed Rs 45.24 crore. BRS received Rs 138.97 crore from 40 corporate donors, the highest among regional parties.

Delhi Leads in Donor Base
Delhi emerged as the largest donor base, contributing Rs 107.09 crore, followed by Telangana with Rs 62.99 crore and Andhra Pradesh with Rs 8.39 crore.

Call for Stricter Compliance and Timely Reporting
The ADR report emphasised the need for political parties to ensure timely and complete disclosures of donations, including donor PAN details and accurate modes of contribution. The report also called on the ECI to enforce stricter compliance with transparency norms to enhance public trust in the political funding process.

With ANI inputs