The 37 regional parties collected 32.58 percent of their total income in FY18 from voluntary contributions such as donations and electoral bonds
Three regional political parties — the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) — together had an income of Rs 110.21 crore in financial year 2017-18, according to an analysis by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The ADR report analyses the income and expenditure of 37 regional political parties whose audit reports were available.
Declared income
The total income declared by the 37 region political parties for FY18 was Rs 237.27 crore.
Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) reported the highest income of Rs 47.19 crore. This was 19.89 percent of the total income of all 37 regional parties. SP was closely followed by MK Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which declared an income of Rs 35.75 crore.
Telangana’s ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) declared an income of Rs 27.27 crore.
The income of the top three regional parties — SP, DMK and TRS — together was Rs 110.21 crore. That was 46.45 percent of the total income of the 37 regional parties, collectively.
As many as 15 out of the 37 parties showed a decline in income from FY17 to FY18. However, 19 parties showed an increase in income during the same period.
The total income of 34 regional parties fell from Rs 409.64 crore in FY17 to Rs 236.86 crore in FY18.
Unspent funds
As many as 22 regional parties declared that a part of their income remained unspent for FY18 while 15 parties had spent more than the income collected during the period.
Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) declared that over 85 percent of their total income had remained unspent while Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) said 63 percent of its income remained unspent in FY18.
YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSRCP declared spending Rs 2.41 crore more than it had received.
Sources of income
The 37 regional parties collected 32.58 percent of their total income in FY18 from voluntary contributions such as donations and electoral bonds.
Around 36.50 percent of the income was generated through membership fee during the same period.
Also read: Data Story | BJP's FY18 donations 13 times that of all other national parties combined
Expenditure
The 37 regional parties together had an expenditure of Rs 170.45 crore in FY18. SP topped the list with an expenditure of Rs 34.539 crore. DMK and TDP followed, having spent Rs 27.47 crore and Rs 16.73 crore, respectively.
