Indian political parties receive 69pc funds from unknown sources

Islamabad

Indian political parties received rupees 7833 crore funding from unknown sources between 2004-05 and 2014-15, which is 69 per cent of their total income, with Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) witnessing maximum income from such sources, says a report. National and regional political parties received rupees 11367.34 crore of total income during this period, as per a report by Delhi-based think-tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Income of political parties from known donors was rupees 1835.63 crore, which is 16 per cent of their total income. Also, total income of political parties from other known sources (sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy etc) stood at rupees 1698.73 crore or 15 per cent. As per the ADR report, during the 11 years, 83 per cent of total income of Indian National Congress amounting to rupees 3323.39 crore and 65 per cent of total income of BJP amounting to rupees 2125.91 crore came from unknown sources.

Among the regional parties, rupees 766.27 crore or 94 per cent of total income of the Samajwadi Party and rupees 88.06 crore or 86 per cent of Shiromani Akali Dal came from unknown sources. Income of national parties from unknown sources increased by 313 per cent, from rupees 274.13 crore during 2004-05 to rupees 1130.92 crore during 2014-15, ADR said. Income of regional parties from unknown sources also increased by 652 per cent from rupees 37.393 crore to rupees 281.01 crore.

Among all the national and regional parties considered, Bahujan Samaj Party is the only party to consistently declare receiving nil donations above rupees 20000 between 2004-05 and 2014-15 thus 100 per cent of the party’s donations came from unknown sources, it said. Total income of the party increased by 2,057 per cent from rupees 5.19 crore to rupees 111.96 crore, as per ADR.

The INC has the highest total income of rupees 3982.09 crore between 2004-05 and 2014-15, this is 42.92 per cent of the total income of the 6 parties during the same time. The BJP has the second highest income of rupees 3272.63 crore which is 35.27 per cent of the total income of the 6 national parties. Total declared income of regional parties between 2004-05 and 2014-15 was rupees 2089.04 crore. The SP has the highest total income of rupees 819.1 crore followed by Dravida Munnetra Kazagham with rupees 203.02 crore and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam with rupees 165.01 crore.

The total amount of donations above rupees 20000 declared by the six national parties was rupees 1405.19 crore. BJP tops the list and has declared a total of rupees 917.86 crore as received through voluntary contributions above rupees 20000. The total amount of donations above rupees 20000 declared by the regional parties was rupees 430.42 crore. The DMK tops the list and has declared a total of rupees 129.83 crore as received via voluntary contributions above rupees 20000 but the party has not filed its donations report for the financial years 2004-05 and 2005-06.

The unknown sources are income declared in the IT returns but without giving source of income for donations below rupees 20000. Such unknown sources include sale of coupons, Aajiwan Sahayog Nidhi, relief fund, miscellaneous income, voluntary contributions, contribution from meetings / morchas etc. At present, political parties are not required to reveal the name of individuals or organisations giving less than rupees 20000.

As a result, over two-thirds of the funds cannot be traced and are from ‘unknown’ sources. “This becomes very relevant in the light of recent events when demonetisation was announced so as to weed out black money from the society,” the report by ADR said.

Six national parties (INC, BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPM) and 51 regional recognised were considered for the analysis. Of the 51 regional political parties considered for the report, 45 parties have not submitted their donations statements to the ECI for at least one financial year, it said. Any organisation that receives foreign funding should not be allowed to support or campaign for any candidate or political party, the ADR said. “The national and other political parties must provide all information under the Right to Information Act. This will only strengthen political parties, elections and democracy,” the report noted.

Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, Founder Member ADR told in a press conference, “We believe it is in the interest of political parties also to change their methods of working and two fundamental changes are required one is internal democracy and the other is financial transparency.”