Party funding: KCR-led BRS' donation jumped from Rs 80 Cr to Rs 193 Cr in a year; YSRCP's drop

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS received Rs 193 crore in donations in 2021-2022. Of which, Rs 153 Crore came from electoral bonds. In the neighboring Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP received Rs 60 Crore.

Bonds, which is an undisclosed source of income, constitute to be one of the key sources of funding for the Telugu parties.

NewsMeter accessed the BRS and YSRCP's contribution report submitted to the Election Commission of India. The BRS received donations of Rs 193 crore in the same year. A maximum of Rs 153 Cr came from bonds. Around 40 crore were received from the electoral trust. Prudent and contribution through individuals accounted for Rs 90 lakh. There was a sharp increase in donations last year compared to Rs 22.08 Cr received in 2020-2021.

YSRCP's top political funding also came through bonds. Funds from prudent trust accounted for Rs 80 crore. The funding for YSRCP dropped from Rs 107.99 Cr received in 2020-21 to Rs 80 Crore last year.

Electoral Bonds worth ₹10,700 crore have been purchased between 2018 and October 2022. National parties' unknown income rose from 66% to 71% in the three years before and after the scheme's introduction.

"Electoral Bonds have opened floodgates to unlimited corporate donations to political parties and anonymous financing by Indian and possibly some foreign companies, which can have serious repercussions on Indian Democracy. Electoral Bonds have reduced public and legislative oversight. Only the ruling party via the SBI has a full account of all donations being made via Electoral Bonds", said ADR- a Delhi-based Election Watch body.

What are known and unknown sources?

It is significant to note that political parties have multiple sources of funding. It includes electoral trust, electoral bonds, individual funders, and party subscriptions. The sources are further categorized as 'known' and 'unknown'.

Association for Democratic Reforms defines Known sources as donations above Rs 20,000, whose donor details are available through contribution reports as submitted by national parties to the ECI

Unknown sources are income declared in the Annual Audit reports but without giving a source for donations below Rs. 20,000. It includes 'Donations via Electoral Bonds', 'sale of coupons', 'relief fund', 'miscellaneous income', 'voluntary contributions', and 'contribution from meetings/ morchas'.

To recall, the concept of electoral trust was introduced by the UPA government and what followed next was electoral bonds in the NDA.