Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party incurred the highest expenditure in the financial year 2018-2019, as per the documents submitted to the Election Commission of India. The YSRCP spent Rs 87.684 crore, followed by the CPI(M), which spent Rs 76.150 crore. Electoral Bonds have emerged as the most common and popular channel of donations to national and regional parties for the year 2018-19. YSRCP and TRS also made it to the top five parties with the highest total declared income. Here is a look at the income and expenditure of six regional political parties in the south who have submitted their documents to the EC:
TRS
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti has declared a total of over Rs 188 crore as its total income in the financial year 2018-2019. Last financial year, the TRS had an income of Rs 27.27 crore, which means the party’s income grew by 85.54 per cent. The party in 2018-2019 spent a total amount of Rs 29.72 crore, in 2018-2019, as compared to Rs Rs 12.07 crore in 2017-18.
The party has also declared that it received a total of Rs 182 crore as donations in 2018-19, as compared to Rs 3.30 crore in 2017-18. Out of the total Rs 182 crores of funds, the party received over Rs 141 crore through electoral bonds.
YSRCP
The YSRCP declared a total income of over Rs 181 crore in the financial year 2018-19, as compared to Rs 14.23 crore in 2017-18, showing an increase of Rs 92.13 per cent. The party spent Rs 87.68 crore out of the total income in 2018-19. The party received funds worth Rs 99.84 crore in electoral bonds.
AIADMK
AIADMK total income for the financial year 2018-19 was Rs 28.10 crore, an increase of 54.72 per cent from the previous financial year, 2017-2018, which was at Rs 12.72 crore. Their total expenditure during 2018-2019 was Rs 10.81 crore, an increase of 2.57 per cent from 2017-18.
DMDK
The DMDK declared their net income as Rs 48.43 lakh for the year 2018-2019. The DMK received Rs 11.84 lakh as donations. The net expenditure of the DMDK was Rs 39.39 lakh, as per the document submitted to the Election Commission.
JD(S)
The total income earned by the Janata Dal (Secular) in the financial year 2018-19 was Rs 42.89 crore. The JDS had declared an income of Rs 8.2 crore in 2017-18, which means the party’s income grew by 80.86 per cent in one year. Out of the total income in 2018-19, the party earned Rs 42.88 crore through donations. The party also received Rs Rs 36 crore in electoral bonds, as per the documents uploaded on the ECI website. The party spent Rs 25.51 crore in 2018-2019.
PMK
The PMK has declared an income of Rs 6.27 crore in the financial year 2018-2019, an increase of 81.28 per cent from the Rs 1.17 crore that they had declared in the year 2017-18. The PMK declared expenditure of Rs 2.27 crore (Rs 2,27,97,583), as compared to the party’s expenditure of Rs 1.21 crore in 2017-18, an increase of 46.50 per cent.