ADR report: Over 55% donations to regional parties from ‘unknown’ sources, 95% in electoral bonds

The ARD report said that the donation received from unknown sources contributed to 70.98 percent of the income of national parties.

• Donations from the “unknown” sources contributed immensely to regional parties, especially from South India, like TRS (Rs 89.158 crore), TDP (Rs 81.694 crore), YSR Congress Party (Rs 74.75 crore), and DMK (Rs 45.50 crore). The list also includes Odisha’s ruling BJD at Rs 50.586 crore.
• Out of the total donations of Rs 233.686 cr declared by the regional parties, Rs 4.884 cr from 421 donations was received in cash during FY 2019-20. This formed 2.09 percent of the total donations to the parties.
• The report highlighted income contribution reports from Aam Aadmi Party, Indian Union Muslim League, and Lok Jansakhti Party were available but their donations data show discrepancies.
• As far as donations are concerned, regional parties have declared receiving the highest donations of Rs 110.475 cr from Maharashtra, followed by Rs 46.24 cr from Delhi and Rs 9.00 cr from Karnataka.
• An earlier ADR report this year had said that national parties collected Rs 3,377.41 crore or 70.98 percent of the total from unknown sources in the 2019-20 financial year. It found BJP declared Rs 2,642.63 crore as income from unknown sources, the highest among the national parties.
• The BJP spent Rs 252 crore in the polls held in Assam, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala this year, of which over Rs 151.18 crore was used for its West Bengal poll campaign, according to the party’s election expenditure statement submitted to the EC. The TMC also spent around ₹154.28 crore on the Assembly elections.