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25.01.2017
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 Even as the common man still reels from the after effects of demonetisation, political parties who swear by their existence for fighting against corruption are busy amassing unaccounted wealth, hiding safely under the purview of incumbent laws.

An analysis of sources of funding of the National and Regional Parties shows that the total income of the political parties from 2004-05 to 2014-15 put together stood at Rs 11,367 crore, of which 69% of income comes from unknown sources, says a report published by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

As per the report findings, ruling party Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are found to be the parties with maximum income from unknown sources.

83% of total income of INC, amounting to Rs 3,323.39 crore and 65% of the total income of BJP, amounting to Rs 2,125.91 crore came from unknown sources.

Among the regional parties, 94% (Rs 766.27 crore) for SP and Rs 88.06 crore or 86% income of SAD came from unknown sources.

BSP, which has collected Rs 764 crore in the same period, is the only party to consistently declare receiving ‘zero’ donations above Rs 20,000. This means that the party has not declared a single donor’s name to the Election Commission while its total income increased by 2057% from Rs 5.19 crore during FY 2004-05 to Rs 111.96 crore during FY 2014-15.

A total of 6 national parties INC, BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) along with 51 regional recognised parties were considered for this analysis.

The report which classifies the source of funding in three categories; Known donors; known sources and unknown sources states, the total income of political parties from known donors (donors list submitted to Election Commission) is Rs 1,835.63 crore; Funds from known sources (sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest) is Rs 1,698.73 crore.

ADR has produced this report on the ground of the income tax returns and statements with the Election Commission of India (ECI), submitted by the political parties.

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