BRS tops regional parties in donations, collects Rs 154.03 crore; Telangana second in contributions

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) remains the richest political party on paper, given the quantum of donations it received from individuals (not corporates), as per data during the financial year (FY) 2022-23.

BRS leads with Rs 154.03 crore from 47 donations followed by YSRCP which has declared receiving Rs 16.003 crore from five donations. The TDP declared receiving Rs 11.9239 crore, the third highest among all regional parties. DMK and CPI have declared total donations of Rs 7.2228 crore and Rs 7.132 crore, respectively.

With the maximum number of donations during FY 2022-23—from the 47 donations BRS received—40 donations were from corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 138.97 crore and seven individual donors donated Rs 15.06 crore to the party.

As per the ADR data, the second highest amount of donations was also from Telangana.

The report, prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) focused on donations declared by regional political parties, during the FY 2022-23, as submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The second highest amount of nationwide donations was from Telangana

Interestingly, the second highest amount of donations was from Telangana, the first being New Delhi. This means that Telangana donated most to parties across India after the nation’s capital.

The third highest amount of donations was from Andhra Pradesh.

A breakdown of the data showed that regional parties have declared receiving the highest donations of Rs 107.092 crore from Delhi, followed by Rs 62.997 crore from Telangana and Rs 8.3916 crore from Andhra Pradesh.

The data on state-wise donations to regional parties, FY 2022-23, was compiled by segregation of donations based on the addresses provided by the parties in their donations report to the ECI.

Breakdown of data on donations to regional parties

The top five parties which declared the highest donations in FY 2022-23 are BRS, YSR-Congress, the TDP, DMK and CPI.

As much as 90.56 per cent or Rs 196.3117 crore of the total donations received by regional parties have been received solely by top five regional parties.

BRS, TDP, DMK and CPI declared an increase in their donations while YSR-Congress declared a decrease in the donations in comparison with FY 2021-22.

Here is a comparison of the donations received by the top five regional parties between FY 2022-23 and FY 2021-22

The total amount of donations declared by 28 regional parties analysed, including both above and below Rs 20,000, was Rs 216.765 crore from 2,119 donations.

No donations have been declared by NPF, BJD, DMDK, GFP, SDF, INLD and JKNC for FY 2022-23.

Status of submission of contribution reports by regional parties to ECI for FY 2022-23

Regarding the status of the submission of contribution reports by regional parties to the ECI, 35 parties out of 57 regional parties analysed, only 18 submitted their donation reports to the ECI. As many as 17 regional parties have delayed their submission by a minimum of two days to 164 days.

Under Section 29C (1) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, political parties are required to prepare a report providing details of contributions in excess of Rs 20,000 from any person in a particular financial year to avail 100 per cent tax exemption.

However, in FY 2022-23, we see that four regional parties (DMK, MNS, AIMIM and AD(Soneylal)) have also provided details of donations received below Rs 20,000 in their contribution reports.

No donations have been declared by NPF, BJD, DMDK, GFP, SDF, INLD and JKNC for FY 2022-23.

State-wise donations to Regional Parties, FY 2022-23

Segregation of donations according to location was made by ADR based on the addresses provided by the parties in their donations report to the ECI.

Donations declared by the regional parties contained details of donations received from 25 States/Union Territories/common capitals according to the declared address of donors.

Regional parties have declared receiving the highest donations of Rs 107.092 crore from Delhi, followed by Rs 62.997 crore from Telangana and Rs 8.3916 crore from Andhra Pradesh.

A total of Rs 3.363 crore (1.5514% of total donations received by the regional parties, FY 2022-23), could not be attributed to any State/Union Territory due to incomplete or lack of information provided by the parties.

Only 0.099% of the total donations were in cash

Out of the total donations of Rs 216.765 crore declared by the regional parties, Rs 21.45 lakhs from 43 donations were received in cash during FY 2022-23. This formed only 0.099 per cent of the total donations to the parties.

Maximum donations in cash were declared by IUML, which collected a total of Rs 14.20 lakhs, followed by CPI with Rs 7.25 lakh.

Among all the states, donors from Kerala made the highest donations of Rs 9.09 lakhs in cash followed by donors from West Bengal who donated a total of Rs 5.91 lakhs in cash.

Donations worth Rs 5.90 lakhs in cash did not have address details. IUML and CPI have received such donations in FY 2022-23

Donors from corporates/business sectors Vs individual donors in FY 2022-23

With the maximum number of donations during FY 2022-23, BRS has declared 40 donations from corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 138.97 crore while seven individual donors donated Rs 15.06 crore to the party.

As many as 169 donations from corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 169.204 crore were made to the regional parties while 1,827 individual donors donated Rs 45.243 crore to the parties during FY 2022-23.

In the case of national parties, 3,318 donations to the national parties were made by corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 680.495 crore (80.017% of total donations) while 8,567 individual donors donated Rs 166.621 crore (19.592% of total donations) to the parties during FY 2022-23.

Disclosure of PAN details in donations, FY 2022-23

Out of 28 regional parties which declared receiving donations, five parties have declared donations without their PAN details.

Rs 96.20 lakhs or 0.444 per cent of the total amount of donations received by regional parties do not have PAN details.

Here are some of the observations made by ADR on the donations to parties:

- As per the ECI notification dated August 29, 2014, “…no tax deduction shall be allowed on the contributions made in cash by any person or company to a political party. Accordingly, the political party shall maintain name and address of all such individuals, companies or entities making donation to it, excepting petty sums, donated by the public only during its public rallies”.

This notification was applicable for donations made from FY 2014-15 onwards.

DMK declared three donations in cash worth Rs 12.61 lakhs (contributions received less than Rs 2,000) through the Party Development Fund, Election Fund and The Women Wing Development.

- For FY 2022-23, address details for 121 donations worth Rs 3.363 crore (1.5514% of total donations received by the regional parties) were not declared by parties.

- Out of 28 regional parties which declared receiving donations, five parties have declared receiving 52 donations worth Rs 96.20 lakhs without PAN details.

- For many donations, regional parties have mentioned ‘Online/RTGS/Cheque no.’ as the mode of contribution without providing any further information such as bank details. This makes it difficult to verify whether the information given is accurate or not.

- Out of a total of 2,119 donations, the mode of contribution for 204 donations worth Rs 165.733 crore is incomplete.