The Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Telangana Rashtra Samithi accounted for 46% of the income of 37 regional parties in India in 2017-’18, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms said.
The report, which was published on Thursday, said the three parties earned a total of Rs 110.21 crore with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party reporting the highest income of Rs 47.19 crore. The MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam reported an income of Rs 35.748 crore and K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi said it made Rs 27.27 crore in that financial year.
The report is based on the income tax returns submitted by the regional parties. In November 2014, the Election Commission had made it mandatory for parties to submit details of their audited reports to the poll panel.
The association found that 15 parties reported a decline in their incomes compared to the 2016-’17 financial year, while the incomes of 19 parties increased during 2017-’18.
The report found that the United Democratic Party had not submitted its audit for the last 14 years while the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party had failed to submit its document for the last 13 years.
The 37 regional parties claimed their largest source of income to be membership fees, followed by followed by voluntary contributions. Janata Dal (Secular) was the only party to declare receiving Rs 6.03 crore from contributions through electoral bonds.
In January, the Association for Democratic Reforms had published a similar report about six national political parties. The report said the source of around 53% of the income of the six parties in the last financial year is untraceable, and that the Bharatiya Janata Party alone accounted for as much as 80% of such income.
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