5 regional parties declared donations of ₹250 cr through electoral bonds in 2020-21: ADR

Five regional parties have declared they received donations amounting to ₹250.60 crore through electoral bonds in 2020-21, according to poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

According to ADR’s latest report, the total income of 31 regional parties for the 2020-21 financial year was ₹529.416 crore, and their total declared expenditure was ₹414.028 crore.

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The five parties that incurred the highest expenditures that year are the DMK (₹218.49 crore), TDP (₹54.769 crore), AIADMK (₹42.37 crore), JDU (₹24.35 crore) and the TRS (₹22.35 crore), it said.

The total income of the top five parties amounted to ₹434.255 crore, which was 82.03% of the total income of the political parties analysed, collectively, the report said.

Under voluntary contributions, the political parties collected ₹250.60 crore or 47.34% of their income from donations through electoral bonds, while other donations and contributions amounted to ₹126.265 crore or 23.85% for FY 2020-21, it said.

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Only five out of the 31 regional parties that were analysed, declared donations through electoral bonds. Of the total income of the 31 regional parties during FY 2020-21, ₹84.64 crore or 15.99% was interest income, the report said.

The total income of 29 out of the 31 parties decreased from ₹800.26 crore in FY 2019-20 to ₹520.492 crore in FY 2020-21, a fall of 34.96%, it said.

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The ADR said there are 17 regional parties who have declared a part of their income as remaining unspent for FY 2020-21.

Among the national parties, the audit report of the BJP for FY 2020-21 was unavailable on the ECI website at the time of preparation of this report, it added.