Press Release: The contribution reports of a total of only 78 or 3.39% of the total 2,301 registered unrecognised parties is available in the public domain for FY 2018-19

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Feb 5, 2021, 1:05:15 AM2/5/21

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Press Release

5th February, 2021

Analysis of Donations Received by Registered Unrecognised

Political Parties during FY 2017-18 & FY 2018-19

For the complete reports in English and Hindi, refer to the detailed reports attached herewith.

To access the reports on the website, please go to: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-donations-received-registered-unrecognised-political-parties-during-fy-2017-18-fy

Executive Summary

According to the latest Gazette Notification issued by the Election Commission of India dated 15^th March, 2019, there are a total of 2,360 political parties registered with the Commission. 2,301 or 97.50% of registered political parties are Unrecognised Parties. Either newly registered parties or those which have not secured enough percentage of votes in Assembly or General Elections to become a state party or those which have never contested in elections since being registered are considered unrecognised parties.

The number of registered unrecognised political parties has increased two fold in the last 10 years. From 1112 parties in 2010, the number has spiked to 2,301 in 2019. It is important to note that the number of such parties increases disproportionately during the year of Parliamentary elections especially. Between 2018 and 2019, it increased by over 9.8% while between 2013 and 2014, it increased by 18%.

The Election Commission of India issued guidelines on “Transparency and Accountability in party funds and election expenditure – submission of reports by unrecognised political parties” which were applicable to all political parties w.e.f 1^st October, 2014. As per these guidelines, all unrecognised parties are required to submit their requisite reports in the office of the respective State CEOs.

On receipt of the reports from the state level unrecognised political parties, scanned copies of annual audited accounts, contribution reports and statements of election expenditure shall be uploaded on the websites of CEOs of the respective states, within 3 days of receipt of the same for viewing by the public.

In view of the above, this report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analyses the status of submission of contribution reports of registered unrecognised parties between FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19. The report looks at the number of parties that submitted their contribution reports on time, those that delayed their submission as well as parties whose contribution reports are not available in the public domain after the due date for the said time period.

Status of submission of contribution reports by registered unrecognised parties, FY 2017-18 & 2018-19

This report analyses the status of submission of contribution reports of 138 registered unrecognised parties whose donation statements were available in the public domain for either FY 2017-18 or FY 2018-19 or both at the time of preparation of this report.
The last date of filing of contribution reports by political parties is 30^th September every year or such date, as extended by CBDT, for filing income tax return.
The contribution reports of a total of only 78 or 3.39% of the total 2,301 registered unrecognised parties is available in the public domain for FY 2018-19, and for FY 2017-18, the reports are available for only 82 parties or 3.56% of the total registered unrecognised parties.

Total donations declared in contribution reports by unrecognised parties during FY 2017-18 and 2018-19

The registered unrecognised parties analysed in this report declared a total of 6860 donations worth Rs 65.45 cr during FY 2018-19 and 6138 donations of Rs 24.6 cr for FY 2017-18, amounting to 12,998 total declared donations of Rs 90.05 cr in two years.
Apna Desh Party of Uttar Pradesh declared the highest donations for both financial years combined of Rs 65.63 crore (4300 donations) or 72.88% of the total declared donations by unrecognised parties in their contribution reports of FY 2017-18 & 2018-19.
Of the 138 parties analysed in this report, more than 50 parties’ contribution reports are unavailable in the public domain for either of the two financial years.

State-wise status of submission of contribution reports, FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19

Of the total of 2,301 registered unrecognised parties as of 15 March’19, 653 parties or 28.38% belong to Uttar Pradesh, followed by 291 parties or 12.65% from Delhi and 184 or 8% from Tamil Nadu.
For FY 2018-19, the contribution reports of only 3.06% or 20 of the 653 total registered unrecognised parties of Uttar Pradesh are available in the public domain. For FY 2017-18, 1.68% or 11 parties’ contribution reports are available on the CEO website of Uttar Pradesh.
In case of Delhi, 6.19% or 18 registered unrecognised parties’ contribution reports are available in the public domain for FY 2017-18. However, none of the parties’ donation statements are available for FY 2018-19. As per ADR’s previously released report, the audit reports of all registered unrecognised parties of Delhi are also unavailable in the public domain for FY 2018-19.

Sector-wise donations declared by unrecognised parties, FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19

761 donations to the registered unrecognised parties were made by corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 14.476 cr (16.076% of total donations) while 11997 individual donors donated Rs 73.57 cr (81.699%) to the registered unrecognised political parties during the FY 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Apna Desh Party received the highest total donations worth Rs 65.63 cr from 4300 donations. 87 donations from corporate/business sectors were made to Apna Desh Party (Rs 7.797 cr) while 4212 individual donors donated Rs 57.815 cr to the party during the two-year period.
57 parties of the 138 political parties analysed declared NIL donations or their donations statements were unavailable for either of the two years.

Mode of contribution of donations declared by unrecognised parties, FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19

Registered unrecognised parties declared receiving a total of Rs 79.055 cr by cheque/DD from 11147 donations and formed 85.79% of the total donations received.

It is to be noted that 10462 donations of a total of Rs 76.715 cr or 85.19% of the total amount contained incomplete cheque/DD details while 130 donations, amounting to Rs 0.30 cr contained undeclared information of the mode of contribution and formed 0.333% of the total donations declared by the parties.

Status of declaration of PAN details of donations received by unrecognised parties, FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19

Of the total 12,998 donations of Rs 90.05 cr declared by the registered unrecognised parties, parties did not declare PAN details of 1528 donations worth Rs 5.47 cr.
1057 donations worth Rs 4.365 cr or 79.80% of the total donations without PAN details were declared by unrecognised political parties in the FY 2018-19. While 471 donations of Rs 1.105 cr were declared without the PAN details in the FY 2017-18.

Top states from where unrecognised parties received highest donations during FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19

A total of Rs 54.206 cr (3511 donations) was donated to the unrecognised parties from Gujarat, followed by Rs 12.239 cr (6526 donations) from Maharashtra and Rs 3.294 cr (179 donations) from Uttar Pradesh.
A total of Rs 5.76 cr or 1028 donations (6.40% of total donations received by unrecognised parties for the two-year period) could not be attributed to any State/UT due to undeclared/incomplete information provided by the parties.

Observations of ADR

Only 0.96% of registered unrecognised parties filed their contribution reports to the ECI for both FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19. Among the parties considered, only 22 submitted their reports for all two years.
The links to the contribution reports/statements filed by the registered unrecognised parties are not available on the CEO websites of 16 states/UTs including Kerala, Odisha, Punjab and Uttarakhand etc. at the time of preparation of this report.
The website and the required webpage to access contribution reports of unrecognised parties is not opening in case of Andaman & Nicobar CEO website and Assam CEO website, respectively.
The contribution reports of unrecognised parties are not available on the websites of the CEO Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for three years (FY 2016-17 to FY 2018-19). In case of Karnataka, the contribution reports of the unrecognised parties are not available for two years from FY 2017-18 and 2018-19.
In case of Goa and Jharkhand, the contribution reports of the unrecognised parties are only available for the FY 2018-19. On the Tripura State CEO website, the donation statement is available for only one party and that too for only FY 2014-15.
Out of a total of 2,301 registered unrecognised parties, approx. 30 parties won seats in the current state assemblies and Lok Sabha. Of these 30 parties, only 3 parties’ contribution reports are available for FY 2017-18 or/and FY 2018-19.
It is also observed that in case of contribution reports of several parties, the official stamp could not be seen or the date of the letter accompanying the report submitted by the parties and hence, the date of submission could not be precisely gauged. In such cases, the date undersigned by the party auditor has been referred to for assessing the status of submission. In other cases, where the official stamp is not available but the accompanying letter date could be seen, the letter date has been referred to.

Recommendations of ADR

In 1999, the ECI had issued notices to more than 200 political parties which were registered till 1995 but failed to contest in any elections. Notices to those parties which were returned undelivered or parties which failed to respond to these notices were deleted only from the list of registered parties, which added up to 150. Similarly, 255 parties were de-listed in 2016 from the list of registered unrecognised parties as they were no longer in existence or functioning.
This exercise should continue so as to weed out all political parties which do not contest in any election for more than 5 years and also as a means to strengthen the registration process.
The website of the state CEOs should be regularly updated to provide details of status of submission of audit reports and contribution reports by unrecognised parties. As mentioned in the transparency guidelines, the list of reports/statements filed by these parties shall be compiled and uploaded on the CEO’s website within 24 hours of the due date. This list shall be periodically updated by the CEO office, within 3 days of receipt of statement/report from any political party. None of the State CEO websites other than Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Gujarat provide details of status of submission of contribution reports. Other state CEO websites must follow the example of these states and display the list of parties and status of submission of their contribution reports as mandated by the guidelines.
Regulation of registration of political parties is crucial to avoid money laundering, corrupt electoral practices and abuse of money power. Thus, the ECI should impose strict norms for the registration of an association of persons as a political party apart from taking the stringent step of de-listing those parties which fail to adhere to the rules.
IT scrutiny of unrecognised parties should be taken up, especially of those which do not contest in elections but declare receipt of voluntary contributions.