NEW DELHI: Regional parties received the lion’s share of their donations in 2023-24 via electoral bonds before they were scrapped by Supreme Court on Feb 15, 2024, as per annual audit reports filed by them with Election Commission.
Trinamool Congress received Rs 612.4 crore between March 31, 2023 and Feb 15, 2024, followed by BRS with bonds receipts worth Rs 495.5 crore, BJD at Rs 245.5 crore, TDP’s at Rs 174.1 crore, YSR Congress Party’s at Rs 121.5 crore, DMK’s at Rs 60 crore, JMM’s at Rs 11.5 crore, and Sikkim Democratic Front’s at Rs 5.5 crore.
While 95% of TMC’s total income was from bonds, it was 72% for BRS, 82% for BJD, 61% for TDP, 64% for YSRCP, 33% for DMK, 73% for JMM.
44% of AAP’s income last fiscal came via poll bonds
Among the four national parties whose annual audit reports for 2023-24 are available on the Election Commission’s website, only AAP has declared contributions via electoral bonds, albeit under the broader category of receipts through electoral bonds/electoral trusts. However, since AAP’s contribution report for 2023-24 did not declare any donation from electoral trusts, it may be safe to assume that the entire Rs 10.1 crore shown under the ‘donations from bonds/trusts’ head has flown from bonds. This constitutes over 44% of the total income declared by AAP in 2023-24.
A comparison of annual audit reports for 2023-24 and 2022-23 shows an 88% jump in TMC’s receipts from electoral bonds, 61% rise for BJD, 133% for YSRCP, 412% for TDP and 858% for JMM. SDF did not declare any donations through bonds in 2022-23. However, DMK’s funding through the electoral bonds route fell by 67% in 2023-24 as compared to the previous year, as did that of BRS by 6.3%.
As regards to the total income declared by the four national parties — BSP, AAP, CPM and National People’s Party (NPP) — for the year 2023-24, BSP’s was the highest at Rs 64.8 crore (up from Rs 29.3 crore in 2022-23), followed by AAP at Rs 22.7 crore (down from Rs 85.2 crore), NPP at Rs 22.4 lakh (down from Rs 7.6 crore) and CPM at Rs 16.8 lakh (up from Rs 14.2 lakh). The total expenditure declared by BSP for the last fiscal is Rs 43.2 crore, by AAP Rs 34.1 crore, by NPP Rs 1.1 crore, and by CPM Rs 12.7 lakh.
Among the regional parties, BRS has declared the highest income at Rs 685.5 crore in 2023-24 (down from Rs 737.7 crore in 2022-23) followed by TMC at Rs 646.4 crore (up from Rs 333.4 crore), BJD at Rs 297.8 crore (up from Rs 181 crore), TDP at Rs 285.1 crore (up from Rs 64 crore), YSRCP at Rs 191 crore (up from Rs 74.8 crore), DMK at Rs 181 crore (down from Rs 214.3 crore), Samajwadi Party at Rs 26.1 crore (down from Rs 32.9 crore), CPI Rs 19.5 crore (up from Rs 15.3 crore), JMM Rs 15.8 crore (up from Rs 2.7 crore).
YSRCP incurred an expenditure of Rs 295.8 crore in 2023-24, BRS Rs 254.9 crore, TMC Rs 231.5 crore, DMK Rs 200 crore, TDP Rs 121.1 crore, BJD Rs 44 crore, SP Rs 39.4 crore and CPI Rs 13.8 crore.