BJD Among Top Five Regional Parties With Over 55% Donations From ‘Unknown’ Sources: ADR Report

New Delhi: More than 50 per cent of the total income of 25 regional parties, which amounts to Rs 445.774 crore, in 2019-20 fiscal, was from unknown sources.

According to an Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report, the total income of 23 regional parties amounted to Rs 885.956 crore including Rs 481.276 crore, or 54.32% from unknown sources. There has been a 1.18% increase in income from unknown sources.

“At present, political parties are not required to reveal the name of individuals or organizations giving less than Rs. 20,000. As a result, a substantial amount of funds cannot be traced and are from ‘unknown’ sources,” the NGO said in the fresh report.

Parties that declared the highest income from unknown sources:

Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Rs 89.158 crore.

Telugu Desam Party, Rs 81.694 crore.

Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party, Rs 74.75 crore.

Biju Janata Dal, Rs 50.58 crore.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rs. 45.50 crore.

The report said income contribution reports of the Aam Aadmi Party, Indian Union Muslim League, and Lok Jansakhti Party are available but their donations data show discrepancies. ADR found that the total declared contributions of the three parties are less than the total donation declared in their reports by Rs 6.105 crore, Rs 31.20 lakh, and Rs 4.16 lakh. “This is an example of disregard of the parties towards the guidelines formulated for transparency and disclosure requirements.”

ADR earlier this year said that national parties collected Rs 3,377.41 crore or 70.98% of the total from unknown sources in the 2019-20 financial year. It found Bharatiya Janata Party declared Rs 2,642.63 crore as income from unknown sources, the highest among the national parties.