Almost 60% of funds received by Indian political parties are from unknown sources: Report
New Delhi: A report says that almost 60% of the funds received by political parties in India cannot be traced and come from unknown sources, including electoral bonds.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the report was released by New Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The ADR, which analysed the audit reports and the donations declared in statements filed by the Indian political parties with the Election Commission of India each year, said that between the financial years 2004-05 and 2022-23, the country’s six political parties collected INR 19,083.08 crore from unknown sources.
At present, political parties in India are not required to reveal the names of individuals or organisations giving them less than INR 20,000. As a result, three-fifths of the funds received cannot be traced and are from unknown sources, the report said.
Of the INR 3,076.88 crore declared as income by the Indian parties in 2022-23, INR 1,832.87 crore — or more than 59% —came from unknown sources. Of this, the share of income from electoral bonds was INR 1,510.61 crore, or 82.42%.
The vast majority of these funds went to the BJP. During 2022-23, the saffron party declared INR 1,400.23 crore as its income from unknown sources. This amounts to 76.39% of the total income from unknown sources declared by all Indian parties; the other five parties together have received only INR 432.63 crore from unknown sources.
The other parties included in the ADR’s analysis were the Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Aam Aadmi Party, and the National People’s Party.
