The Bharat Rashtra Samithi received ₹40.9 crore donations in 2021-22, the Aam Aadi Party ₹38.243 crore and the Janata Dal (United) ₹33.257 crore

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) received the highest donation, worth ₹40.9 crore, among the regional parties during the Financial Year 2021-22, followed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which received ₹38.243 crore from 2,619 donations and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), which received ₹33.257 crore, according to an ADR report.

ADR or the Association for Democratic Reforms, a non-governmental organisation working to effect electoral reforms in the country, released their report after assessing the parties’ declarations submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI). To be sure, the AAP was recognised by ECI as a national party on April 10. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) changed its name to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on October 5, 2022.

The ADR report said that 26 regional parties received 5,100 donations worth ₹189.801 crore, both above and below ₹20,000, during 2021-22.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) were the only parties to have not declared any donation, according to the report. 

The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party Congress (YRS) have declared total donations of ₹29.795 crore and ₹20.01 crore, respectively.

ADR analysed 33 out of 54 regional parties and only 19 had submitted their donations reports to ECI in the stipulated time. Fourteen other regional parties have delayed their submission by a minimum of two days to 109 days.

The report also stated that donations worth ₹162.21 crore or 85.46% were received by five regional parties alone. “The top five parties which declared the highest donations in FY 2021-22 are TRS, AAP, JDU, SP and YSR-Congress,” the report stated.

Out of these parties, the TRS, AAP, SP and YSR-Congress declared an increase in their donations while the JDU declared a decrease in the donations in comparison with FY 2020-21. A total of ₹189.801 crore was declared in the form of cash donations by the regional parties, and ₹7.4 lakhs from 21 donations were received in cash during FY 2021-22, forming 0.039 per cent of the total donations to the parties. 

Tamil Nadu was the only state to have declared the highest number of donations, of ₹5.55 lakh, followed by Arunachal Pradesh which donated a total of ₹5,000 in cash.

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) received the maximum number of donations in cash, followed by the Kerala Congress (KC-M) with ₹1 lakh, People’s Democratic Front (PDF) with ₹80,000, PPA with ₹5,000 and AAP with ₹120.

Regional parties have declared receiving the highest donations of ₹118.178 cr from Delhi, followed by ₹13.528 cr from Punjab and ₹9.896 cr from Karnataka.

ADR also stated that around 4.78% or ₹1.828 crore of the total donations above ₹20,000 made to the AAP was received from abroad. 377 donations worth ₹136.04 crore were received by regional parties from corporate/business sectors. KC-M and PDF received donations worth ₹1.80 lakhs in cash without address details.