TDP came second with Rs 72.92 crore and AIADMK was at the third position with an earning of Rs 48.88 crore, shows ADR report.
New Delhi: The Samajwadi Party earned Rs 82.76 crore, the highest by any regional party for the year 2016-17, shows a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released Tuesday.
The Telugu Desam Party came second with Rs 72.92 crore, followed by the AIADMK at Rs 48.88 crore, the report says, citing audited financial details of regional parties submitted to the Election Commission.
Of the 48 regional parties, 32 have submitted their financial statements to the Election Commission, according to information available on the poll panel website.
The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, which lost to the BJP in the assembly election last year, had an expenditure of Rs 147.1 crore in 2016-17.
The cumulative income of the top three regional parties for that period was Rs 204.56 crore, which is 63.72 per cent of the total earnings of the 32 regional parties.
In comparison, opposition parties earned far less in that period. For instance, AIUDF in Assam earned Rs 0.327 crore, JMM in Jharkhand had an earning of Rs 0.319 crore and the INLD in Haryana showed an earning of Rs 0.303 crore.
Sandeep Shastri, pro vice-chancellor, Jain University, told ThePrint, “The first four highest earners are the ruling parties in their respective states. It shows the ruling parties are better placed to get collections and donations.” He further added that it also indicates the amount of invisible money which the ruling parties have command over.
The last date of submission of the audited statements was 31 October 2017, but 20 parties submitted the reports after the deadline. The Janata Dal (United), which is ruling Bihar in coalition with the BJP, was the last to submit their report on 28 March 2018.
The Aam Aadmi Party, National Conference and the Rashtriya Janata Dal are among 12 parties which have not submitted the report as on 22 May 2018.
According to the ADR report, the most common source of income for regional parties has been “grant/donations/contributions/gross receipts and interest income (bank, FD, TDR with bank)”.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party and the United Democratic Party have not submitted their financial details to the EC for the past 13 years.
The ADR report recommends, “Any party which does not submit its I-T returns or donation statement to the ECI on or before the due date, their income should not be tax-exempted and defaulting parties should be de-recognised.”