Date: 19th April, 2016
Political parties have multiple sources of funding and thus accountability and transparency should be an important aspect of their functioning. It is essential to have comprehensive and transparent accounting methods and systems which should reveal the true financial position of the parties.
The Election Commission of India (ECI), in its letter dated 19th November,’14 addressed to the Presidents/General Secretaries of all political parties, stated that it was mandatory for the parties to submit details of their audited reports to the Commission. This report analyses the total income and expenditure incurred by theNational Parties during FY 2014-15, as declared by the parties in their IT Returns submitted to the ECI.
Executive Summary
Submission of audited reports by the National Parties
· The due date for submission of annual audited accounts for the parties was 30thNov,’15.
· CPI, CPM and BSP were the only three National Parties to submit the audit reports on time.
· INC has not submitted its audit report till date.
Comparison of total income of National Parties between FY 2013-14 and 2014-15
· National parties’ income (less INC) increased by 39% from Rs 920.44 crores during FY 2013-14 to Rs 1,275.78 crores during FY 2014-15 which is a difference of Rs 355.34 crores.
· Between FY 2013-14 and 2014-15, the income of BJP increased by 44.02% (Rs 296.62 crores) while that of BSP increased by 67.31% (Rs 45.04 crores)
· It is to be noted that among the National parties, CPI is the only such party whose income decreased by 24.28% (Rs 59 lakhs).
Total Income of National Parties FY 2014-2015
· The 5 National Parties (BJP, BSP, NCP, CPM and CPI) have declared a total income of Rs. 1,275.79 crores, collected from all over India.
· BJP has shown the highest income amongst the National Parties with a total income of Rs 970.43 crores during FY 2014-15. This forms 76.06% of the total income National Parties, together during FY 2014-15.
· CPI declared the least income of Rs 1.84 crores which forms a mere 0.14% of the total income of the National Parties during the FY 2014-15.
Declaration of sale of coupons and donations by National parties (less INC): FY-2014-2015
· Grant/ donations/ contributions or funds collected by the parties was the top source of income of the 5 National Parties, forming88.73% of their total income.
· BJP declared the maximum income from donations which amounted to Rs 940.39 crores followed by BSP with Rs 92.80 croresand NCP with Rs 38.82 crores.
· Out of the total income of Rs 1,275.79 crores declared by the National Parties during FY 2014-15, other remaining sources of income amounted to Rs 116.63 croreswhich formed only 9.14% of the total income of the parties.
Unknown sources of income of National parties for FY- 2014-2015
· The unknown sources are income declared in the IT returns but without giving source of income from donations below Rs.20,000. Such unknown sources include ‘sale of coupons’, ‘relief fund’, ‘miscellaneous income’, ‘voluntary contributions’, ‘contribution from meetings/ morchas’ etc. The details of donors of such voluntary contributions are not available in the public domain.
· Total income of political parties from unknown sources (income specified in the IT Returns whose sources are unknown), for the FY 2014-15 is Rs 685.36 crores, which is 54% of the total income of the parties.
Top items of expenditure of National Parties for FY 2014-2015
● The maximum expenditure for BJP has been towards Advertisement & Publicity which amounted to Rs 471.89 crores followed by expenses towardsTravelling, Rs 209.57 crores.
● NCP spent the maximum of Rs 67.70 crores on Election Expenditure followed by expenditure of Rs 13.36 crores onAdministrative and General Expenses and Rs 1.30 crores on Depreciation and Amortisation Expenses.
Recommendations of ADR
· Those parties not following the ICAI guidelines for auditing of reports should be scrutinized by the IT department.
· The National political parties must provide all information on their finances under the Right to Information Act. This will only strengthen political parties, elections and democracy.
For more details on top sources of income of National Parties (less INC) and the share of donations above Rs 20,000 in total donations, kindly refer to the attached report (in English and Hindi)
For details of Income and Expenditure declared by the National Political parties during FY 2013-14, kindly visit:
http://goo.gl/DHLHqq
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