The electoral success of BJP is also reflecting in the growth of its income-the party’s income went up by 81.18 per cent between 2015-16 and 2016-17. In the same period, BJP’s main political adversary - Congress - has seen a fall in its income by 14 per cent.
According to report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) - an NGO working for political and electoral reforms in the country, BJP’s declared an income of Rs 1,034.27 crore to the Election Commission. This is a rise of Rs 463.41 crore from the previous submission made. The party also declared expenditures accruing to Rs 710.057 crore during 2016-17 while Congress incurred an expenditure of Rs 321.66 crore which is Rs 96.30 crore more than its income for the same period. The data has been compiled from Income Tax returns filed by the parties across the country.
The report further finds that seven national political parties in the country have a combined income of Rs 1,559.17 crore and expenditure of Rs 1,228.26 crore. Further, these parties received a total of Rs 1,169.07 crore (74.98 per cent) income from voluntary contributions. These parties are BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Trinamool Congress.
The report further said that 70 percent of the total income of BSP, 31 percent of the total income of BJP and CPI and 6 percent of the total income of CPM during 2016-17 was declared unspent. BSP’s total income was Rs 173.58 crore during 2016-17, while its total expenditure was Rs 51.83 crore. Between 2015-16 and 2016-17, the income of BJP increased by 81.18 percent from Rs 570.86 crore to Rs 1,034.27 crore, while that of INC decreased by 14 percent from Rs 261.56 crore to Rs 225.36 crore. Donations and/or contributions, according to the report, are one of three sources of incomes declared by the political parties.
Income of BSP increased by 266.32 percent from Rs 47.38 crore during 2015-16 to Rs 173.58 crore in 2016-17, while that of NCP increased by 88.63 percent from Rs 9.137 crore during 2015-16 to Rs 17.235 crore in 2016-17. The report further noted that between 2015-16 and 2016-17, the income of AITC decreased by 81.52 percent and that of CPM fell by 6.72 percent.
BJP and Congress have declared donations/ contributions as one of their three main sources of income. “Grants/donations/contributions of Rs 997.12 crore declared by BJP formed 96.41 percent of the total income of the party during 2016-17. Declaration of Rs 115.64 crore under revenue from issuance of coupons by INC forms the top most income of the party, contributing 51.32 percent of the total income of the party during 2016-17,” ADR said.
The maximum expenditure for BJP during 2016-17 was towards election/general propaganda, which amounted to Rs 606.64 crore followed by expenses towards administrative cost, Rs 69.78 crore.
The Congress spent the maximum Rs 149.65 crore on election expenditure followed by expenditure of Rs 115.65 crore on administrative and general expenses, the report said. Seven national parties have collected maximum 74.98 percent (Rs 1,169.07 crore) income from voluntary contributions for 2016-17.
During 2016-17, national parties received Rs 128.60 crore income from interest from banks and FD. The report added that 7.98 percent or Rs 124.46 crore was the income generated through revenue from issuance of coupons by national parties during 2016-17.