A shocking Rs 10,753.09 crore was collected by six national political parties from unknown sources between 2004-05 and 2023-24 financial year, excluding electoral bonds.
As per the latest report made available by Association of Democratic Rights (ADR), during the financial year 2023-24, CPI (M) declared the highest income from ‘unknown sources’ at Rs 82.0759 crore, followed by Congress with Rs 78.7298 crore, BJP with Rs 37.6037 crore, AAP with Rs 0.93 crore and NPEP with Rs 0.0289 cr. These figures clearly reflect that a certain share of political funding for major political parties still originates from undisclosed sources, said the report.
In financial year 2023-24, Congress and CPI (M) together earned a total income of Rs 69.8816 crore from the sale of coupons.
The audit reports of six national parties analyzed include the BJP, Congress, CPI (M), BSP, AAP and NPEP. However, BSP declared that it did not receive any funds from voluntary contributions (above or below Rs 20,000), Sale of Coupons, Electoral Bonds or Unknown Sources of income. The BSP party received a total income of Rs 64.7798 crore from other known sources, which includes Rs 38.1893 crore from bank interest, Rs 26.59 crore from membership fees, and Rs 5,000 from interest income on security.
The total income of six national political parties in 2023-24 was registered at Rs 5820.912 crore including Rs 2544.278 crore income from known donors, which is 43.71% of the total income of the parties.
Further income of political parties from other known sources e.g. sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy etc. was Rs 553.1298 crore, or 9.502% of the total income.
As per the ADR report, the income of political parties from Electoral Bonds was Rs 2524.136 crore, which was 43.363% of the total income. Also the total income of political parties from unknown sources (income specified in the annual audit report whose sources are unknown) is Rs 199.3683 crore or 3.425 % of the total income of the parties.
Income of Political Parties from Known, Other Known and Unknown Sources
For this analysis, reveals the ADR report, known sources had been defined as donations above Rs 20,000, whose donor details are available through contributions report as submitted by national parties to ECI. The unknown sources are income declared in the annual audit report but without giving source of income for donations below Rs. 20,000. Such unknown sources include ‘sale of coupons’, ‘relief fund’, ‘miscellaneous income’, ‘voluntary contributions’, ‘contribution from meetings/morchas’ etc. Prior to February 2024, it also included ‘donations via Electoral Bonds’ (which are now prohibited). The details of donors of such voluntary contributions are not available in the public domain.
Further, other known sources of income include sale of moveable and immoveable assets, old newspapers, membership fees, delegate fee, bank interest, sale of publications and levy whose details were available in the books of accounts maintained by political parties.
Income from Unknown Sources
Out of the total income received by six national parties, Rs 199.3683 crore was received from unknown sources, which is 3.425% of the total amount. Income from the sale of coupons declared by INC and CPI (M) formed 35.05% (Rs 69.8816 crore) while Donations from Voluntary Contributions (below Rs 20,000) formed 62.99% (Rs 125.587 crore) in income from unknown sources of the six national parties.
As per ADR reports, in 2022-23 also, India’s six national political parties had declared a significant portion of their income from unknown sources, totaling to Rs 1,833 crore. Almost 60% of the funds received by these parties, including electoral bonds, were considered to be from unknown sources.
