HYDERABAD: The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the YSR Congress (YSRC) were among the top five political parties of the country in terms of income recorded during 2018-2019 financial year.
According to a report titled 'Analysis of Income and Expenditure of National and Regional and Political Parties for FY 2018-2019' by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), the TRS recorded a mammoth income of Rs 188.71 crore, which was 16.22 per cent of the total income of the three national and 22 regional parties that were analysed in the report.
The party also recorded a 550 per cent increase in its earnings from 2017-2018 financial year. A look into the sources of income for TRS shows that 96 per cent of the portion came from ‘voluntary donations or contributions’, and only 0.59 per cent came from 'fees and subscriptions'. The TRS was also one of the few parties with excess income over expenditure. For instance, 84 per cent of the party’s income was unspent in 2018-2019 financial year.
The party spent 90 per cent of the sum on
elections and 6.9 per cent on administrative expenses, the report added. Similarly YSRC declared its total income as Rs 181 crore, which was an increase of Rs 3,628.47 per cent from their last declaration, the ADR report said.
The other parties with the highest recorded income were Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the CPM. However, it is important to note that the comparison was done between three national parties and 22 regional parties whose income and expenditure details were available on the ECI website.
The report notes that major national parties such as BJP and Congress, and closer home AIMIM, have not submitted their income and expenditure details as on December 7. The due date for submission of annual audited accounts for parties was October 31, 2019. Reports of the remaining five national parties and 30 regional parties are still not available on the ECI website.
“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 report said.