According to the annual audited reports of the six ‘national parties’ for 2022–23, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) total declared income accounted for 76.73 per cent of the total income of Rs 3,076.88 crore received by these parties.
The data, analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), showed that the incomes of the Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) declined in 2022–23 compared to 2021–22.
The ADR analysed the total declared income and expenditure of six ‘national parties’ for 2022–23 as submitted by them to the Election Commission of India in their annual audit reports.
According to data, the BJP received 54.82 per cent of its total income in 2022–23 through electoral bonds. The figure for the Congress was 37.8 per cent, and for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 53.364 per cent. The other three ‘national parties’ stated that they didn’t receive any funds through electoral bonds in 2022–23.
According to data, the maximum expenditure for the BJP in 2022-23 was on ‘election campaign and propaganda’-related expenses. The BJP spent Rs 1,092.15 crore, or 80.21 per cent of its total expenditure, on election-related expenses and Rs 191.42 crore, or 14.06 per cent, on ‘administrative and general’ expenses.
The maximum expenditure of the Congress was towards ‘administrative and general’ expenses, which amounted to Rs 235.839 crore, or 50.49 per cent, of its total expenses, and its election-related spend was Rs 192.556, or 41.22 per cent, of its total expenditure.
More From This Section
The BJP’s expense under the head ‘employees’ was 3.81 per cent of its total expenditure, while the Congress spent 5.72 per cent on ‘employees’, and the CPI(M)’s on ‘employees’ was 42.06 per cent of its total spend in 2022–23.
The six political parties that currently have the status of ‘national parties’ are the BJP, Congress, BSP, CPI(M), AAP, and the National People’s Party.