Press Release: The total amount of donations declared by 28 regional parties analysed, including both above and below Rs 20,000, was Rs 216.765 cr, from 2119 donations.

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Press Release

10th January, 2025

Analysis of Donations declared by Regional Political Parties – FY 2022-23

This report, prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) focuses on donations declared by Regional Political Parties, during the Financial Year 2022-23, as submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

For details of parties defaulting in their submission of contribution statements, donations declared by the parties without declaring PAN of donors, top donors etc, you can access the reports in both English and Hindi on our website, please see: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-of-donations-declared-by-regional-parties-FY-2022-23

Executive Summary

The executive summary below lists the key observations drawn from the report:

Status of submission of contribution reports by Regional Parties to ECI for FY 2022-23

35 out of 57 regional parties analyzed, only 18 had submitted their donations reports to the ECI in the stipulated time period. 17 other regional parties have delayed their submission by a minimum of 2 days to 164 days.

Donations to Regional Parties as declared to the ECI, FY 2022-23

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% tax exemption. However, in FY 2022-23, we see that 4 regional parties (DMK, MNS, AIMIM and AD(Soneylal)) have also provided details of donations received below Rs 20,000 in their contribution reports.
The total amount of donations declared by 28 regional parties analysed, including both above and below Rs 20,000, was Rs 216.765 cr, from 2119 donations.
No donations have been declared by NPF, BJD, DMDK, GFP, SDF, INLD and JKNC for FY 2022-23.
With regard to the total amount of donations, BRS leads with Rs 154.03 cr from 47 donations followed by YSR-Congress which has declared receiving Rs 16.003 cr from 5 donations. TDP declared receiving Rs 11.9239 cr that is the third highest amongst all regional parties. DMK and CPI have declared total donations Rs 7.2228 cr and Rs 7.132 cr, respectively.
90.56% or Rs 196.3117 cr of the total donations received by regional parties have been received solely by top 5 regional parties.

Comparison of donations received by Regional Parties between FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23

JMM, JJP, TDP and AITC saw the highest percentage increase in their income from donations between FY 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Between FY 2021-22 and 2022-23, donations to JMM increased by 3685%, followed by JJP for which it was 1997.63%, for TDP it was 1795.69%, and for AITC the increase was 368.84%.
Two parties (NDPP and AIADMK) did not receive any donations during FY 2021-22, but parties have declared donations for FY 2022-23. NDPP declared Rs 1.217 cr and AIADMK declared Rs 1.05 lakhs.
DMDK, GFP, MGP, SP and SAD witnessed maximum decrease in the percentage of donations received between FY 2021-22 and 2022-23, of 100%, 100%, 99.24%, 99.10% and 89.10% respectively.
SDF, BJD and JKNC have not declared any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23.
The top five parties which declared the highest donations in FY 2022-23 are BRS, YSR-Congress, TDP, DMK and CPI. Out of these 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.

Cash donations declared by the Regional Parties, FY 2022-23

Out of the total donations of Rs 216.765 cr declared by the regional parties, Rs 21.45 lakhs from 43 donations was received in cash during FY 2022-23. This formed only 0.099% 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. 2 Regional Parties (IUML and CPI) have received such donations in FY 2022-23 (Refer Annexure-1)

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 cr from Delhi, followed by Rs 62.997 cr from Telangana and Rs 8.3916 cr from Andhra Pradesh.
A total of Rs 3.363 cr (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.

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

169 donations from corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 169.204 cr were made to the regional parties while 1827 individual donors donated Rs 45.243 cr to the parties during FY 2022-23.
In case of National Parties, 3318 donations to the National parties were made by corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 680.495 cr (80.017% of total donations) while 8567 individual donors donated Rs 166.621 cr (19.592 % of total donations) to the parties during 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 cr while 7 individual donors donated Rs 15.06 cr to the party.

Disclosure of PAN details in donations, FY 2022-23

Out of 28 regional parties which declared receiving donations, 5 parties have declared donations without their PAN details.
Rs 96.20 lakhs or 0.444% of the total amount of donations received by regional parties do not have PAN details.

Observations of ADR

ECI notification dated 29^th August,’14 stated that “…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 3 donations in cash worth Rs 12.61 lakhs (contribution received less than Rs.2000/- (Rupees two thousand through Party Development Fund, Election Fund and The Women Wing Development)
For FY 2022-23, address details for 121 donations worth Rs 3.363 cr (1.5514% of total donations received by the regional parties) were not declared by parties.
Out of 28 Regional Parties which declared receiving donations, 5 parties have declared receiving 52 donations worth Rs 96.20 lakhs without PAN details.
For a large number of donations, regional parties have mentioned ‘Online/RTGS/Cheque no.’ as 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 cr is incomplete.