Registered unrecognised political parties doubled in 2010-2021: ADR

The number of registered unrecognised political parties increased more than twice between 2010 and 2021 and disproportionately during the year of parliamentary elections, poll rights group ADR said.

The number of registered unrecognised political parties increased more than twice between 2010 and 2021 and disproportionately during the year of parliamentary elections, poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.

Either newly registered parties or those which have not secured enough percentage of votes in assembly or general elections to become a state party, or those which have never contested elections since being registered are considered unrecognised parties.

In a new report, the ADR said from 1112 parties in 2010, the number spiked to 2,301 in 2019 and now in 2021, the number rose to 2,858.

"It is important to note that the number of such parties increases disproportionately during the year of Parliamentary elections especially. Between 2018 and 2019, it increased by over 9.8 per cent while between 2013 and 2014, it increased by 18 per cent," the report said.

The ADR said the annual audit reports of only 230 or 8.23 per cent registered unrecognised parties and the annual contribution reports of only 160 or 5.72 per cent of the total 2,796 registered unrecognised parties are available in the public domain for 2019-20.

Of the 889 registered unrecognised parties analysed belonging to five states going for polls in 2022, the annual audit reports are available on the state CEO websites for only 90 or 10.12 per cent of such parties belonging to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand while they are unavailable for the unrecognised parties of Manipur and Goa for 2019-20.

"The annual audit reports of 10.69 per cent or 82 out of 767 parties of UP, 9.09 per cent or 6 out of 66 parties of Punjab and 5.41 per cent or 2 parties of 37 parties of Uttarakhand are available in the public domain," it said.

During 2019-20, only 25 of these 90 registered unrecognised parties submitted their audit reports without any delay, while the remaining 65 parties submitted their audit reports after the due date, with a delay ranging from 1 day to 318 days, the report said.

The 90 registered unrecognised parties of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab analysed in this report, whose audit reports are available, declared a total income of Rs 840.25 lakh while the total expenditure declared was Rs 876.76 lakh for 2019-20. During 2019-20, these unrecognised parties spent Rs 36.51 lakh more than their total income for that year.

The Jan Raajya Party of Uttar Pradesh declared the highest income of Rs 338.01 lakh while the total expenditure declared by the party was Rs 332.16 lakh for 2019-20.

Anarakshit Samaj Party and Apna Dal (Soneylal) of Uttar Pradesh declared the second (Rs 157.68 lakh) and the third highest income (Rs 76.05 lakh) during this period, it said.