As much as 69 percent of the total income of political parties over a period of 11 years came from unknown sources, said a report released by an NGO working towards electoral reforms.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), while the total income of 48 national and regional political parties between 2004-05 and 2014-15 stood at Rs 11,367 crore, the sources of as much as Rs 7,833 crore of it were untraceable.
Trilochan Sastry, Founder Member of ADR, said: “The income from known donors was Rs 1,835 crore (16 percent) and income through other known sources, such as sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications and party levy, was Rs 1,698 crore (15 percent).”
"However, the remaining income of Rs 7,833 crore, which works out to 69 percent of the total income, does have sources to attribute," he added.
The ADR said that the unknown sources are income declared in the Income Tax (IT) returns but without giving source of income for donations below Rs 20,000.
According to the report, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was the only party to declare zero donations above Rs 20,000 between 2004-2015, thus 100 percent of party’s donation came from unknown sources.
Among national parties, the Congress' income through unknown sources was 83 percent (Rs 3,323 crore) of the total income while the BJP's share of income from unknown sources found out at 65 percent (Rs 2,126 crore)
"Among the regional parties, 94 percent (Rs 766 crore) of total income of the Samajwadi Party and 86 percent (Rs 88 crore) of the total income of the Shiromani Akali Dal came from unknown sources," reads the report.
The report further reveals that the income of national parties from unknown sources had increased by 313 percent from Rs 274 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 1,131 crore in 2014-15.
In case of the regional parties the hike was by 652 percent from Rs 37 crore to Rs 281 crore in the 11 years.
On 14 May, sacked Aam Aadmi Party leader Kapil Mishra accused Arvind Kejriwal of running shell companies and receiving black money as political funding. The Quint is republishing this story, originally published on 25 January 2017, in light of this development.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)