The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accounted for the majority of the total income declared by eight national parties, shows data put together by non-governmental organisation Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The data is based on disclosures made with a lag. The latest numbers are for 2021-22. The BJP declared over three times the income of its closest political competitor. At the second spot, interestingly, was not the Indian National Congress (INC). The All India Trinamool Congress, led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, overtook the INC in terms of total income in 2021-22. The INC had nearly five times its income in 2018-19, but has since been overtaken.
The party with the highest income also dominated the total expenditure. This includes all administrative, employee, and other costs. While the INC’s income was lower than it was earlier, expenditure remained high.
The changing income profiles of national parties comes amidst the rising importance of electoral bonds. These instruments, often criticised for their opacity, accounted for 55.1 per cent of political funding in 2021-22.
Another important source of funding is electoral trusts. These are entities to which corporations and individuals can donate, though are dominated by the former. This money is then donated to political parties. Not all of them declare their financials in a timely manner. But there is a rising trend in the amount of funding that is coming from them, shows an analysis of ADR reports based on available disclosures.
Large corporations dominated the funding
pool of electoral trusts in 2021-22. The biggest donors included the ArcelorMittal group, Bharti Airtel, Serum Institute of India, DLF Luxury Homes and GMR.
A further break-up of political party expenditure gives a sense of how much funding can matter in elections. The total amount spent by the largest party was 28 per cent higher than the rest put together.
 "Political fund, Political funding")