A study of annual audit reports of all eight national parties for the year 2021-22 – now published on the Election Commission website – shows that BJP cornered 58% share in total receipts of Rs 3,289 crore declared by the national parties. Trinamool Congress saw the biggest jump of 633% in its receipts, which grew from Rs 74.4 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 545.7 crore in 2021-22. Trinamool and Congress had a 16.5% share each in the total flow of receipts to the national parties.
Around 54% of BJP’s receipts in 2021-22, amounting to Rs 1,033.7 crore, were through the electoral bonds route, while the Trinamool earned 96% (Rs 528 crore) of its income in the same year via bonds. Congress, incidentally, has not declared its receipts from electoral bonds as a separate head in its annual audit report for 2021-22 uploaded by EC on Tuesday. However, it has shown its total income from grants, donations and contributions at around Rs 348 crore, up from Rs 95.4 crore in 2020-21. The Congress had declared an income of around Rs 10 crore from bonds in 2020-21. NCP, meanwhile said that it received Rs 14 crore via bonds in 2021-22.
The incoming funds of CPM in 2021-22 totalled Rs 162.2 crore, down from Rs 171 crore in 2020-21 while NCP’s receipts more than doubled to Rs 75.8 crore from Rs 34.9 crore in 2020-2. BSP’s receipts were down to Rs 43.7 crore from Rs 52.4 crore, CPI’s rose to Rs 2.8 crore from Rs 2.1 crore; and NPP’s fell to Rs 47 lakh from Rs 69 lakh over the corresponding period.
In terms of expenditure, BJP led the national parties by declaring Rs 854.46 crore as its total spend in 2021-22, followed by Congress that spent over Rs 400 crore. Trinamool expenditure for the year stood at Rs 268.3 crore, BSP’s Rs 85.1 crore, CPM’s Rs 83.41 crore, CPI’s almost Rs 1.2 crore, NCP’s Rs 32.2 crore and NPP’s Rs 39 lakh.
Election expenditure for 2021-22 declared by BJP totalled Rs 645.8 crore. Congress’s election expenditure, in comparison, stood at Rs 279.7 crore, TMC’s at Rs 135 crore, BSP’s at Rs 69.6 crore, NCP’s at 61 crore and CPM’s at Rs 13 crore.
Among the regional parties, DMK declared total receipts of Rs 318.7 crore in 2021-22, followed by BJD with Rs 307.2 crore, TRS with Rs 279.4 crore and YSR Congress Party at Rs 93.7 crore.
