Five parties spent 60% of total income in 2015-16: ADR

Five national parties -- BSP, NCP, CPM, CPI and Trinamool Congress -- have declared total income of Rs 200.76 crore for 2015-2016 but nearly 40 per cent of this amount remained unspent, says a report.
BJP and Congress have not yet submitted their audited reports to the Election Commission even after six months from the due date for submission, Association for Democratic Reforms
(ADR) said in its report released today.
"The due date for submission of annual audited accounts for the parties was October 31, 2016. AITC, CPM and BSP were the only three national parties to submit the audit reports on time," the Delhi-based think-tank said.

CPI submitted its audited report on November 17 -- 16 days after the due date for submission, while NCP submitted its report on March 1, four months after the due date.

Total declared expenditure of national parties was Rs 122.39 crore during 2015-16.
Among the parties, BSP has declared a total income of Rs 47.38 crore during 2015-16, but spent only 25 per cent (Rs 11.90 crore) of the total income, the report said adding AITC declared a total income of Rs 34.57 crore and spent 39 per cent (Rs 13.35 crore).
NCP is the only party which has spent 19 per cent more than its total income during 2015-16. While the party's income was Rs 9.14 crore, it incurred a total expenditure of Rs 10.84 crore.

CPM has the highest income amongst the national parties with a total income of Rs 107.48 crore during 2015-16. This forms 53.34 per cent of the total income of national parties together during 2015-16.
BSP has declared second highest income of Rs 47.38 crore, which is 23.60 per cent of the total income of the five national parties.
On the other hand, CPI declared the least income of Rs 2.176 crore, a mere 1.08 per cent of the total income of all the five parties during 2015-16.
The total income of BJP during 2014-15 was highest among all national parties. The party had declared a total income of Rs 970.43 crore but is yet to submit its copy of Income Tax returns for 2015-16 to the ECI, ADR said.

Income of INC was second highest during 2014-15 at Rs 593.31 crore but it is also yet to submit a copy of its IT returns with the ECI.
Between 2014-15 and 2015-16, the income of AITC increased 180.68 per cent (Rs 22.26 crore) from Rs 12.32 crore during 2014-15 to Rs 34.58 crore during 2015-16, while that of CPI increased 17.93 per cent (Rs 33 lakh) from Rs 1.84 crore to Rs 2.17 crore.
The report further said that between 2014-15 and 2015-16, the income of NCP decreased by 86.49 per cent (Rs 58.51 crore) from Rs 67.65 crore during 2014-15 to Rs 9.14 crore during 2015-16, while that of BSP decreased by 57.68 per cent (Rs 64.58 crore) from Rs 111.96 crore to Rs 47.38 crore.

Total income of political parties from known donors was Rs 4.75 crore, which is 2.37 per cent of the total income of national parties during 2015-16, ADR said.
It also noted that total income of political parties from other known sources (sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy) was Rs 134.35 crore or 66.92 per cent of total income.
Besides, total income of political parties from unknown sources (income specified in I-T returns whose sources are unknown), for 2015-16 is Rs 61.66 crore, which is 30.71 per cent of the total income of the parties from all over the country. CPM received Rs 45.14 crore from unknown sources and AITC Rs 9.72 crore, it said.

Among unknown sources of funding, maximum funds were collected under voluntary contributions by the five national parties during 2015-16. A total of Rs 37.56 crore was collected under voluntary contributions which formed 60.92 per cent of the total income from unknown sources.
The second most preferred unknown source of funding was miscellaneous income under which the national parties collected a total of Rs 15.89 crore, 25.77 per cent of their total income from unknown sources during 2015-16.
BSP has not declared any income under voluntary contributions, miscellaneous income or any collection from sale of coupons and publications.
National parties have declared donations or contributions as one of their three main sources of income.