By Abdul Bari Masoud
New Delhi: The BJP, which has been leading the NDA government at the Center as well as ruling 2/3rd India along with its allies, has almost doubled its income since last year which was increased from Rs 570.86 crores to Rs 1,034 crores during the Financial Year 2016-17 while the former ruling party Congress’ income decreased by 14 percent during the same period which was mere Rs 225 crores.
This was revealed in a study released Tuesday by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) here which has been working for bringing ‘transparency’ in political parties and ‘electoral reforms’ in the country.
The study focuses on Income and Expenditure of BJP and Indian INC, during the Financial Year 2016-17, as submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
According to the ADR report, between FY 2015-16 and 2016-17, the income of BJP increased by 81.18% (Rs 463.41 cr) from Rs 570.86 cr during FY 2015-16 to Rs 1,034.27 cr during FY 2016-17 while the income of INC decreased by 14% (Rs 36.20 cr) from Rs 261.56 cr during FY 2015-16 to Rs 225.36 cr during FY 2016-17.
It said the income of BJP during FY 2015-16 was also the highest among all the seven national political parties which had declared a total income of Rs 570.86 crores.
It is well-known fact that political parties have multiple sources of funding and thus accountability and transparency should be an important aspect of their functioning.
The ADR pointed top three sources of income of BJP and INC as both the parties have declared donations/contributions as one of their three main sources of income. BJP got Rs 997.12 cr while INC Rs 50.626 Cr.
“Grant/ donations/ contributions of Rs 997.12 cr declared by BJP forms 96.41% of the total income of the party during FY 2016-17. Declaration of Rs 115.644 cr Revenue from the issuance of Coupons by INC forms the topmost income of the party, contributing 51.32% of the total income of the party during FY 2016-17”.
On account of expenditure, BJP’s maximum expenditure was towards Election/ General Propaganda which amounted to Rs 606.64 cr followed by expenses towards Administrative Cost, Rs 69.78 Cr. While the INC spent the maximum of Rs 149.65 cr on Election Expenditure followed by the expenditure of Rs 115.65 cr on Administrative and General Expenses.
The ADR observed that the seven national parties’ (BJP, INC, BSP, NCP, CPM, CPI, and AITC) total income has increased by 51%, in other words by Rs 525.99 Cr. The total income of the seven national parties increasing from Rs 1,033.18 cr during FY- 2015-16 to Rs 1,559.17 cr during FY- 2016-17 and they have declared a total expenditure of Rs 1,228.26 Cr.
It also 4 out of 7 national parties i.e. BJP, INC, NCP, and CPI have consistently delayed submitting their audit reports for the past five years. The top major parties, BJP and INC, have delayed submitting their audit reports by an average of almost 6 months.
The report also revealed that all seven national parties have collected maximum 74.98% (Rs 1,169.07 cr) income from voluntary contributions for FY- 2016-17. In contrast, the parties had have received 60% (Rs 616.05 cr) of their income from voluntary contributions during FY- 2015-16.
The ADR recommended that all political parties must provide all information on their finances under the Right to Information Act.
Referring to the Supreme Court judgment that no part of a candidate’s affidavit should be left blank, it recommended that the Election Commission India impose rules that no part of the Form 24A submitted by political parties providing details of donations above Rs 20,000 should be left blank.
It also suggested that those parties not following the ICAI guidelines for auditing of reports should be scrutinized by the IT department.
It said the full details of all donors should be made available for public scrutiny under the RTI as this is done in Bhutan, Nepal, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, Bulgaria, the US, and Japan. In none of these countries is it possible for 75 percent of the source of funds to be unknown.
According to the Finance Bill, 2017, Section 13A of the IT Act was amended to state that tax exemption will be given to registered political parties “Provided also that such political party furnishes a return of income for the previous year in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (4B) of section 139 on or before the due date under that section.” Thus, any party which does not submit its IT returns on or before the due date, their income should not be tax-exempted and defaulting parties should be derecognized, the ADR said.