Regional parties earning less but spending more

Despite its income being just about Rs 4 crore, the DMK spent more than 20 times its earning in 2016-17 — a trait that was common for most of the 32 regional parties whose total income stood at Rs 321,03 crore.

DMK spent Rs 85.66 crore though its income stood at Rs 3.78 crore. Similarly, the Samajwadi Party (SP), which had the highest income of Rs 82.76 crore, forming 25.78 per cent of the total income of all regional parties, spent Rs 147.1 crore.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) came second with an income of Rs 72.92 crore but incidentally, it spent only about one-third of the earning, Rs 24.34 crore. The AIADMK's income stood at Rs 48.88 crore but it spent Rs 86.77 crore. 

The cumulative income of the top three regional parties for that period was Rs 204.56 crore, which is 63.72 per cent of the total earnings of the 32 regional parties.

According to The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report on regional parties, the expenditure incurred by the three major political parties is 73.38 percent of the total expenditure as reported by 32 regional parties. The total expenditure by SP is 33.78 percent of the total expenditure as reported by 32 regional parties.

"The total Income of 27 regional parties have  increased from Rs 291.14 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 316.05 crore in 2016-17, an increase of 8.56 percent or Rs 24.91 crore. There are 17 regional parties who declared a part of their income as remaining unspent for the year 2016-17 while 15 parties spent more than the income collected during the year. DMK has declared spending Rs 81.88 crore more than its income while SP and AIADMK declared spending Rs 64.34 crore and Rs 37.89 crore more than their total income, respectively," it said.

Out of 48 regional parties considered, audit reports of 16 are unavailable for 2016-17 on the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI). "This includes some major regional political parties like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD)", the report said. Audit reports of INLD, MGP, JKPDP, AIUDF, and KC-M were not unavailable for the year 2015-16 for comparison.

In comparison, Opposition parties earned far less in that period. For instance, AIUDF in Assam earned Rs 0.327 crore, JMM in Jharkhand had an earning of Rs 0.319 crore and the INLD in Haryana showed an earning of Rs 0.303 crore.

"The income of 27 Regional Parties (whose details are available for the year 2015-16 and 2016-17) for the 2015-16 was Rs 291.14 crore, this increased by 8.56 percent to Rs 316.05 crore in  2016-17. The expenses of these 27 Regional Parties for the 2015-16 was Rs 132.31 crore, this increased by 224 percent or Rs 296.64 crore to Rs 428.95 crore in 2016-17," it said.