Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Anshul Vipat
BJP and Congress reported a steep decline in their earning due to the pandemic. Image source: IANS
Despite a sharp dip in its donations, the BJP continued to out-earn and out-spend all other national parties in 2020-2021 by a big margin
An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) of the income and expenditure submitted by parties to the Election Commission showed that the saffron party earned Rs 3623.28 cr during FY 2019-20. It decreased to Rs 752.337 cr during FY 2020-21, a fall of 79.24 percent. Expenses, too, decreased in 2020-2021, with the party spending a total of ₹620.39 crore, as opposed to ₹1,651.02 crore in 2019-2020. On the other hand, income of the Congress party decreased by 58.11 percent (Rs 396.445 cr) during the pre-pandemic year to Rs 285.765 cr in the last fiscal year.
Along with the two national parties, several others also witnessed a sharp decline in donations. This includes the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (Rs 85.58 crore to Rs 34.92 crore), CPI (Rs 6.58 crore to Rs 2.12 crore), BSP (Rs 58.25 crore to Rs 52.46 crore) and NPP (Rs 1.88 crore to Rs 69.2 lakh). Trinamool Congress witnessed 48 percent dip in their income. CPI(M) was the only party to witness an increased income - from Rs 158.62 cr during 2019-20 to Rs 171.046 cr during 2020-21.
Despite a sharp dip in its donations, the BJP continued to out-earn and out-spend all other national parties in 2020-2021 by a big margin. According to the election watchdog, BJP earned an income of Rs 752.337 cr in 2020-21 which forms 54 percent of the total income of 8 other national parties. Congress came a distant second with 28 percent of the total income of the national parties, followed by CPM and AITC respectively.
The primary source of income for the BJP was voluntary contributions, which amounted to 76 percent of its total income followed by interest from banks, fee and subscriptions. Around 54 percent of the income earned by Congress came in the form collections by issuing coupons.
The Representation of The People Act, 1951 makes it mandatory for political parties to submit their annual audit reports to the election commission. However, the ADR report noted that all national parties submitted their audit reports after a delay ranging from 59 days to 201 days.
