YSRCP received 2nd-highest income among 31 regional parties in 2020-21, most received via electoral bonds

Hyderabad: The Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress (YSRCP) party headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy received Rs. 107.99 crores in 2020-21 as political funding, the second-highest income received among 31 regional political parties, revealed a report by the Association for Democratic Reform.

It is pertinent to note that a large chunk of the funds, i.e Rs 96.25 Cr came from 'electoral bonds' (unknown sources). The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a Delhi-based election watch body, analysed the income of 31 regional parties for the year 2020-21. The study concluded that the total income of all parties adds up to Rs. 529.416 crores.

DMK, in power in Tamil Nadu, reported the highest income of Rs. 149.95 crores (28.324%) followed by the YSRCP with an income of Rs. 107.99 cores (20.398%) and the BJD with Rs 73.347 crores (13.854%). However, the audit also revealed that the YSRCP has more than 99.25% of its total income remaining 'unspent'.

Interestingly, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) that reportedly received the highest income of Rs. 130.46 crores for the financial year 2019-20 dropped to Rs. 22.8 crores.

It is significant to note that political parties have multiple sources of funding, including electoral trust, electoral bonds, individual funders, party subscription, membership fees, and other fees. The sources are further categorised as 'known' and 'unknown'.

The Election Commission of India mandates that every registered political party have multiple sources of funding and file its annual audit report. The regional parties include AAP, AGP, AIADMK, AIFB, AIMIM, AINRC, BJD, CPI(ML) (L), DMDK, DMK, GFP, JDS, JDU, JKPDP, JMM, KC-M, MGP, MNS, NDPP, NPF, PDA, PMK, RLD, SAD, SDF, SHS, SKM, TDP, TRS, YSRCP, and ZNP.

What are known and unknown sources?

The Association for Democratic Reforms defines known sources as donations above and below Rs. 20,000 whose donor details are available through contribution reports as submitted by regional parties to the Election Commission of India.

Unknown sources are income declared in the annual audit reports but without giving the source of income for donations below Rs. 20,000. These include donations via electoral bonds, sale of coupons, relief funds, miscellaneous income, voluntary contributions, and contributions from meetings/morchas.

Expenditure

The most common and popular items of expenditure for regional parties for FY 2020-21 are election expenses/general propaganda and administrative/general expenses.