Press Release: The total amount of donations declared by 26 regional parties analysed, including both above and below Rs 20,000, was Rs 189.801 cr, from 5100 donations

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Press Release

24th April, 2023

Analysis of Donations declared by Regional Political Parties – FY 2021-22

This report, prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) focuses on donations declared by Regional Political Parties, during the Financial Year 2021-22, 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 and donations from foreign countries, you can access the reports in both English and Hindi on our website, please see: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-donations-declared-regional-political-parties-fy-2021-22

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 (FY 2021-22)

33 Out of 54 regional parties analyzed, only 19 had submitted their donations reports to the ECI in the stipulated time period. 14 other regional
parties have delayed their submission by a minimum of 2 days to 109 days.

Donations to Regional Parties as declared to the ECI, FY 2021-22

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 twenty thousand rupees from any person in a particular financial year to avail 100% tax exemption. However, in FY 2021-22, we see that 3 regional parties (DMK, MNS and PPA) have also provided details of donations received below Rs 20,000 in their contribution reports.
The total amount of donations declared by 26 regional parties analysed, including both above and below Rs 20,000, was Rs 189.801 cr, from 5100 donations.
No donations have been declared by AIADMK, BJD, NDPP, SDF, AIFB, PMK and JKNC for FY 2021-22.
With regard to the total amount of donations, TRS leads with Rs 40.90 cr from 14 donations followed by AAP which has declared receiving Rs 38.243 cr from 2619 donations. JDU received Rs 33.257 cr that is the third highest amongst all regional parties. SP and YSR-Congress have declared total donations Rs 29.795 cr and Rs 20.01 cr, respectively.
85.46% or Rs 162.21 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 2020-21 and FY 2021-22

YSR-Congress, SP, RLD and MGP saw the maximum percentage increase in their income from donations between FY 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Donations to YSR-Congress increased by 800300%, followed by SP for which it was 5807%, RLD for which it was 4090%, and MGP that saw an increase of 3583%.
4 parties (RLTP, JMM, PDF, and DMDK) had not received any donations during FY 2020-21, but parties have declared donations for FY 2021-22: RLTP- Rs 3 lakhs, JMM- Rs 1 lakh, PDF- Rs 80,000 and DMDK- Rs 50,000.
AIADMK, SDF, AIFB, PMK and AIUDF declared the highest decrease in the percentage of donations received between FY 2020-21 and 2021-22, of 100%, 100%, 100%, 100% and 95% respectively.
BJD, NDPP and JKNC have not declared any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22.
The top five parties which declared the highest donations in FY 2021-22 are TRS, AAP, JDU, SP and YSR-Congress. Out of these parties, TRS, AAP, SP and YSR-Congress declared an increase in their donations while JDU declared a decrease in the donations in comparison with FY 2020-21.

Cash donations declared by the Regional Parties (FY 2021-22)

Out of the total donations of Rs 189.801 cr declared by the regional parties, Rs 7.40120 lakhs from 21 donations was received in cash during FY 2021-22. This formed 0.039% of the total donations to the parties.
Maximum donations in cash were declared by IUML, which collected a total of Rs 5.55 lakhs, followed by KC-M with Rs 1.00 lakh, PDF with Rs 80,000, PPA with Rs 5,000 and AAP with Rs 120.
Among all the states, donors from Tamil Nadu made the highest donations of Rs 5.55 lakhs in cash followed by donors from Arunachal Pradesh who donated a total of Rs 5,000 in cash.
Donations worth Rs 1.80 lakhs in cash did not have address details. 2 Regional Parties (KC-M and PDF) have received such donations in FY 2021-22 (Refer Annexure 1)

State-wise donations to Regional Parties (FY 2021-22)

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 26 States/Union Territories/common capitals and 10 countries according to the declared address of donors. Only AAP declared donations from abroad.
Regional parties have declared receiving the highest donations of Rs 118.178 cr from Delhi, followed by Rs 13.528 cr from Punjab and Rs 9.896 cr from Karnataka.

4.78% or Rs 1.828 cr of the total donations above Rs 20,000 to AAP was received from abroad. (Annexure- 2)
A total of Rs 2.7286 cr (1.44% of total donations received by the regional parties, FY 2021-22), 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 2021-22)

377 donations from corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 136.04 cr were made to the regional parties while 4693 individual donors donated Rs 50.436 cr to the parties during FY 2021-22.
In case of National Parties, 2551 donations to the National parties were made by corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 625.883 cr (80.1619% of total donations) while 4506 individual donors donated Rs 153.328 cr (19.6379% of total donations) to the parties during FY 2021-22.
With the maximum number of donations during FY 2021-22, TRS has declared 7 donations from corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 40.25 cr while 7 individual donors donated Rs 65.00 lakhs to the party.

Disclosure of PAN details in donations (FY 2021-22)

Out of 26 regional parties which declared receiving donations, 9 parties, have declared donations of donors without their PAN details.
Rs 2.426 cr or 1.28% 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 one donation in cash worth Rs 5.83 lakhs (Contribution received less than Rs.2000/- (Rupees Two Thousand through volunteers and party functionaries))
For FY 2021-22, address details for 128 donations worth Rs 2.7286 cr (1.44% of total donations received by the regional parties) were not declared by parties.
Out of 26 Regional Parties which declared receiving donations, 9 parties, have declared receiving 202 donations worth Rs 2.426 cr 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 5100 donations, mode of contribution for 415 donations worth Rs 92.673 cr is incomplete.
As per the data shared by SBI in response to ADR’s RTI application, Electoral Bonds worth Rs 2673.0525 cr were redeemed by parties in FY 2021-22. 67.79% (Rs 1811.9425 cr) of this has been redeemed by National Parties and 31.91% (Rs 852.88 cr) is redeemed by Regional Parties.
For the FY 2021-22, only 4 National Parties (BJP, INC, NCP and AITC) have received from Donations through Electoral Bonds (Rs 1811.9425 cr) wherein identity of the donor is not disclosed to the public. Of the Regional parties that have submitted their audit reports, 10 Regional Parties (DMK, BJD, TRS, YSR-Congress, JDU, SP AAP, SAD, MGP and TDP) have declared receiving donations through Electoral Bonds worth Rs 852.88 cr.