Half of Rs 221 cr income of 32 regional parties remained

Total income of 32 regional parties during 2015-16 was Rs 221.48 crore of which Rs 110 crore remained unspent, with DMK having the highest income, says a report.
"Total income of 32 regional parties for 2015-16 was Rs 221.48 crore of which the parties spent Rs 111.48 crore and declared an unspent amount of Rs 110 crore (49.67 per cent unspent of total income)," a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said today.
There are 47 regional parties out of which 15 have not submitted their audit report for 2015-16 to Election Commission of India, till date, including SP and RJD, the Delhi-based think tank said.

The due date for submission of annual audited accounts for the parties was October 31, 2016. "During 2015-16, DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) had the highest income of Rs 77.63 crore among all regional parties, followed by AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) at Rs 54.93 crore and TDP (Telugu Desam Party) Rs 15.97 crore," ADR said.
The top three regional parties that incurred highest expenditure are JDU which spent Rs 23.46 crore, followed by TDP Rs 13.10 crore and AAP Rs 11.09 crore, it added.
The report further said 14 out of 32 regional parties have reported incurring expenditure more than their total income. Three parties, JVM-P (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), JDU and RLD have spent close to 200 per cent of their total income during 2015-16.

DMK, AIADMK and AIMIM (All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen) have more than 80 per cent of their income remaining unspent, it said.

ADR said during 2015-16, the total income of DMK (Rs 77.63 crore) forms 35.05 per cent of the total income of all 32 regional parties considered for the report.
"The top three parties which declared highest income are DMK, AIADMK and TDP, amounting to a total of Rs 148.54 crore. This comprises more than 67 per cent of the total income of 32 regional parties, collectively," it added.
Total income (from known and unknown sources) of 18 regional parties during 2015-16 was Rs 206.21 crore.

Details of IT returns as well as donation statements were available only for 18 regional parties, ADR said.
Total income of parties from known donors was Rs 90.74 crore. Also, total income of parties from other known sources (sale of assets, membership fees, among others) was Rs 74.86 crore.
Besides, total income of parties from unknown sources (income specified in IT Returns whose sources are unknown), for 2015-16 was Rs 40.61 crore, which is 20 per cent of the total income of the parties from all over India, it said.
Out of the 18 parties, JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) is the only regional party not to declare any income under unknown sources during 2015-16.

Among unknown sources of funding, maximum funds were collected under "voluntary contributions" by seventeen regional parties during 2015-16. A total of Rs 28.94 crore was collected under "voluntary contributions", forming 71.28 per cent of the total income from unknown sources.
The second most preferred unknown source of funding was "gross receipts" under which SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal) collected Rs 6.59 crore which formed 16.23 per cent of their total income from unknown sources during 2015-16.
Six regional parties have more than one unknown source of income while eleven have only one unknown source. Parties with highest unknown sources of income are TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) (Rs 7.24 cr), TDP (Rs 6.88 cr) and SAD (Rs 6.59 cr).

Donations/contributions, interest income, and fees and subscriptions are the top three sources of income of regional parties.
The most common types of expenditure, on which parties incurred highest amount are election expenses, administrative and general expenses.
Among the top five parties, which have reported spending the highest overall amount, JDU spent the maximum, Rs 14.03 cr on elections, followed by TDP which spent the highest, Rs 8.93 cr on administrative and general expenses. AAP spent Rs 5.116 cr, the highest on propaganda expenses.