The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was declared as the regional party with the second highest income at Rs 72.92 crore (22.71%) after the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the year 2016-17, as per a report by Association for Democratic Reforms - an independent political reforms body.
According to the audit report, the total income of all the 32 regional parties combined was Rs 321.3 crore. Out of the 48 regional parties, only 32 submitted their audit report.
The report states that SP had the highest income at Rs 82.76 crore followed by TDP at Rs 72.92 crore and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) earning Rs 48.88 crore. The total income of these three parties taken together amounted to Rs 204.56 crore, out of the Rs 321.3 crore of all the 32 regional parties combined.
While the TDP saw a sharp increase of Rs 56.94 crore in 2016-17, it had an income of Rs 15.97 crore in the previous year. Interestingly, the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s party Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) saw a decline of Rs 5.11 crore as the income decreased from Rs 8.90 crore to Rs 3.79 crore. YSR Congress party saw a decline of Rs 97 lakh as its income fell from Rs 1.91 crore to Rs 0.94 crore.
The top five regional parties with highest unspent income were TDP, Shiv Sena, All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Janata Dal(S) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Among the regional parties which didn’t submit the audit report to the Election Commission were: Aam Aadmi Party, All India Forward Bloc, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, Karnataka Janta Paksha, National People's Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Revolutionary Socialist Party, United Democratic Party, including others.
The report also noted that Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party and the United Democratic Party from Meghalaya did not submit their audit reports showing income or expenditure for the past 13 years.
Sources of income for most of the parties were grants, donations, contributions, gross receipts and interest income, the report further said.