The Bharat Rashtra Samithi garnered the most donations among regional parties in the financial year 2022-23, followed by YSR Congress and Telugu Desam Party, as per an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
While the BRS garnered donations to the tune of Rs 154.03 crore from 47 donors, YSR Congress received Rs 16 crore from five donors, and TDP received Rs 11.92 crore.
About Rs 196.31 crore, or 90.56 per cent of the donations went to the top five regional parties; including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Communist Party of India besides the three parties from the Telugu states.
Under Section 29C (1) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 political parties are required to prepare a report providing details of contributions above Rs 20,000 from any person in a particular financial year to avail 100 per cent tax exemption.
Only 18 out of 57 regional parties had submitted their donation report to the Election Commission within the stipulated time period. No donations have been declared by Naga People's Front, Biju Janata Dal, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, Goa Forward Party, Sikkim Democratic Front, Indian National Lok Dal and Jammu & Kashmir National Conference for the financial year in question.
When compared with the previous financial year, JMM, JJP, TDP and AITC saw the highest percentage increase in their income from donations. The first saw an increase of 3685 pc, leaving the second-highest gainer far behind with 1997.63 pc.
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Parties that saw maximum decrease include DMDK, GFP, MGP, SP and SAD. The decreases were 100 pc for the first two, followed by a drop of 99.24 pc, 99.10 pc and 89.10 pc for other parties, respectively.
Two parties, NDPP and AIADMK, did not receive any donations during FY 2021-22, but parties have declared donations for FY 2022-23.
Out of the total donations of Rs 216.765 crore declared by the regional parties, donations to the tune of Rs 21.45 lakh, from 43 donors, were received in cash during FY 2022-23. This formed only 0.099 pc of the total donations to the parties. The Maximum donations in cash were declared by the Indian Union Muslim League, which collected a total of Rs 14.20 lakh, followed by CPI with Rs 7.25 lakh.
These cash donations were mostly from donors in Kerala who contributed Rs 9.09 lakhs. This was followed by West Bengal from where Rs 5.91 lakh donations came in cash.