BHUBANESWAR: With around 318 per cent (pc) rise in annual income in 2021-22, the BJD became the second wealthiest regional party in the country after the DMK.According to the latest report of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the regional party had earned Rs 307.28 crore in 2021-22, up from Rs 73.34 crore in 2020-21. The party had Rs 278.65 crore excess income after expenditure of around Rs 28.63 crore during the fiscal.
After a slump in its income during 2020-21, the BJD reported the highest increase in income of Rs 233.94 crore, followed by TRS and DMK, which declared an increase of Rs 180.45 crore and Rs 168.79 crore respectively in 2021-22. Of the total income of Rs 1213.13 crore by 36 regional parties, the share of BJD’s income was 25.33 pc, which is the second highest.
Among the national parties, Trinamool Congress saw the highest 633 pc rise - from Rs 74.41 crore to Rs 545.74 crore, primarily due to gathering 96 pc of its income through electoral bonds. While the BJP’s income rose by 154 pc - from Rs 752.33 crore to Rs 1917.12 crore, that of Congress was up by 89.4 pc - from Rs 285.76 crore to Rs 541.27 crore.
A comparative analysis of the income of the parties between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years showed that the BJD’s income had come down by 19 pc - from Rs 90.35 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 73.34 crore in 2020-21.
In 2021-22, the BJD had received Rs 291 crore, which accounts for 94.7 pc of its total income, from voluntary contributions, especially through electoral bonds. This was also the second highest among the regional parties in the country. Apart from this, Rs 16.17 crore bank interest and Rs 11 lakh from other sources added to its income.
The most common items of expenditure, on which parties have incurred highest expenses, are election expenditure, administrative and general expenses. The BJD has spent around Rs 23 crore for elections, Rs 78 lakh towards employees cost and Rs 26 lakh for administrative and general expenses besides Rs 4.5 crore other expenditures.
The ADR report has been prepared on the basis of the total income and expenditure declared by the parties in their IT returns submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI).Twenty parties, including the BJD, had submitted their audit reports on time. The regional outfit was ranked third to submit the report on August 26, 2022. The due date for submission of annual audited accounts for the parties was October 31.