BRS received Rs 580 crores in funding during election year, highest among Telugu parties

Hyderabad: Former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS party, now in the Opposition in Telangana, continues to be the richest regional political party, going by the funds received via various channels.

In 2023-2024, the year which saw elections in both Telugu states, BRS received funds worth Rs 5,80,52,00,000 (Rs 580.52 crore). For the same period, the Telugu Desam Party, which is in rule in Andhra Pradesh currently, received Rs 1,00,18,89,042 and the Opposition party in AP, the YSRCP, received Rs 1,84,00,00,000 (Rs 184 crore).

ECI data on funding for regional parties

NewsMeter assessed the contribution reports submitted by the regional political parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for 2023-24 and found that Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which was in power in Telangana until December last year, received the highest funding compared to the regional parties in the two Telugu states.

Despite 2023-24 being election years for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, KCR and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s pockets ran deep, as per the data.

80% of donations from ‘undisclosed sources’

In its annual contribution report, the BRS informed the election commission that in 2023-24, it received Rs 85 crore through Electoral Trusts and Rs 495 crore through Electoral Bonds, summing to Rs 580 crore. This means 80 per cent of its donations were from electoral bonds from ‘undisclosed sources’ as this method of donation conceals the donors’ identities.

To recall, BRS received a whopping Rs 683 crore in donations in the financial year of 2022-23 of which Rs 529 crore came via electoral bonds.

While the N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP—the most important ally of the BJP—received Rs 100 crore from individual funding, Jagan’s YSRCP received more than the ruling party, i.e. Rs 184 crore.

Who funded Congress from Hyderabad during election time 2023-24?

While no big multi-millionaire companies came forward to donate (at least on record) to the Congress party, many individuals turned major funders. Among them are billionaires Rajapusha Group owners. The Parupati family alone donated Rs 24 crore to the Congress party.

A family (or a group) from Medak were the top funders, as per the Congress’s contribution report. Here’s a breakdown of the donors and their contributions to the party:

1. P Sudhathi Reddy Jaya Chandra Reddy - Rs 2 crore

2. Jaya Chandra Reddy - Rs 3 crore

3. P Sujith Reddy - Rs 5 crore

4. P Sreenivas Reddy - Rs 5 crore

5. P Pushpaleel Reddy - Rs 3 crore

6. Parupati Mahender Reddy- Rs 3 crore

7. P Charan Raj Reddy - Rs 3 crore

All seven donors share the same address

It is pertinent to note that all seven donors belong to the Rajapushpa House, Tellapur, Medak, Telangana. As per the contribution report, all seven funders have one address.

Only a handful of companies donated to Congress (on record). This includes Nacto’s contribution of Rs 2.5 crore, Rs 1.5 crore from Varun Motors in Hyderabad and Rs 1 crore from Lakshmi Finance.

There are also other ways of donating to political parties i.e. Electoral trusts and bonds or unaccounted cash, which keeps the donor’s identity off the records.

What are known and unknown sources?

Political parties have multiple sources of funding.

The contribution channels include Electoral Trusts, Electoral Bonds, individual funders and party subscriptions. The sources are further categorised as ‘known’ and ‘unknown’. Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) defined known sources as donations above and below Rs 20,000, whose donor details are available through contribution reports as submitted by parties to the ECI. Unknown sources are income declared in the annual audit reports.

However, the source of income for donations below Rs 20,000 are not revealed. These include donations via electoral bonds, sales of coupons, relief funds, miscellaneous income, voluntary contributions and contributions from meetings/morchas. Private companies can route money to political parties through electoral trusts, as well as electoral bonds. Donors such as Prudent Trust, set up initially by the Bharati Group, are among such several trusts.