65% of unrecognised political parties fail to make annual audit and contribution reports public: ADR
Nearly two-thirds of India's registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) have not made their annual audit and contribution reports for 2024-25 available in the public domain, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The ADR analysed the submission status of 734 RUPPs across 34 states and Union Territories, representing 35 per cent of all RUPPs, whose reports were available on the websites of the respective state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs). It found that 1,330 RUPPs, or 65 per cent of the total, had no audit or contribution reports in the public domain for the financial year. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had the highest numbers of parties whose reports were missing. Of the 734 parties analysed, reports were available for 461, or just 22.23 per cent of the total number of RUPPs. Delhi (26.55 per cent), Bihar (21.56 per cent) and Gujarat (21.25 per cent) showed relatively higher compliance than the national average.
On donations, the ADR said the top 10 donors to the top 10 RUPPs gave a total of Rs 120.983 crore through 445 transactions. The New India United Party declared the highest donations at Rs 270.9984 crore, followed by the Swatantra Abhivyakti Party (Rs 228.8098 crore) and the Bharatiya Garib Vikas Kalyan Party (Rs 170.0445 crore). The Jan Suraaj Party dominated the top donors' portfolio, declaring Rs 97.72 crore in 104 donations. Together, the 10 parties accounted for 80.77 per cent of all top-donor contributions, while the other nine parties collectively received only Rs 23.26 crore from their top 10 donors.
Corporate donors were fewer than individual donors, but the report noted some significant contributions, including Rs 85 crore from Vedhas Ventures to the Jan Suraaj Party in 85 donations, and Rs 1.10 crore from Shri Gopinathji Silk Mills LLP to the New India United Party in five donations. The top three earners (New India United Party, Bharatiya National Janata Dal and Bharatiya Garib Vikas Kalyan Party) together reported Rs 660.523 crore, more than 67.82 per cent of the total income declared by reporting parties. Most high-earning parties spent almost all of their income in the same financial year. The New India United Party earned Rs 291.64 crore and spent Rs 291.079 crore, while the Rashtriya Jan Sambhavna Party declared income of Rs 55.47 crore and expenditure of Rs 55.46 crore.
The Bharatiya Garib Vikas Kalyan Party, registered only in January 2024, declared Rs 170.0445 crore in total income in 2024-25, indicating that newly registered entities too are quickly gathering high-value contributions.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the top 15 RUPPs collected Rs 3,827.368 crore in income and Rs 5,180.85 crore in donations above Rs 20,000, yet won only one of the 35 seats they contested across all elections. Gujarat-registered parties accounted for 70.34 per cent of the income and 64.73 per cent of the donations above Rs 20,000. Gujarat's 29 RUPPs together declared the highest income of Rs 510.4172 crore, followed by 73 parties in Delhi (Rs 218.483 crore) and 23 in Rajasthan (Rs 173.365 crore).
The Jan Suraaj Party contested 238 seats in the Bihar Assembly elections, polled 16,77,583 votes but won none, while keeping its spending to 8.88 per cent of its income (Rs 9.21 crore of Rs 103.745 crore). The report said 98.4 per cent of high-value donations (Rs 1,155.65 crore of Rs 1,174.507 crore) went to parties that won no seats or did not contest. Of 49 parties listed, 43 failed to win a single seat despite each receiving donations of over Rs 1 crore. Three parties, namely Vishal Janta Party, Jan Shakti Party and Majlis-e-Muttahida Tehreek, declared zero donations but were found to have received contributions above Rs 20,000.
National parties hold the bulk of financial resources, with income of Rs 7,960.099 crore, which is 6.6 times that of 36 regional parties (Rs 1,192.944 crore) and 8.1 times that of the top 15 RUPPs (Rs 973.93 crore).
Noting the "significant transparency gap" in financial reporting, the ADR said only 22.49 per cent of parties had submitted the mandatory reports. It pointed out that reporting rates vary sharply across states, suggesting differences in enforcement, capacity or willingness to comply. Audit and contribution reports were not available on the CEO websites for Uttarakhand, Puducherry, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Meghalaya, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
The ADR recommended that the Election Commission of India (ECI) continue its drive to deregister defunct parties, noting that it removed 537 RUPPs in 2022 for non-compliance and delisted 334 more in August 2025 and 474 in September 2025. It said parties that have not contested any election for over five years should be removed, and that state CEO websites should be updated regularly with the submission status of audit and contribution reports. It also urged the ECI to prescribe a minimum share of tax-exempt income to be spent on core electoral activities and to restrict vague expense heads such as "public welfare" and "general propaganda".
The ADR further called for stricter norms for registering parties, scrutiny of non-contesting parties declaring voluntary contributions, tighter monitoring of large donations to little-known parties, and a central machine-readable digital database of RUPP deregistration, compliance and financial filings. It also recommended that parties failing to contest elections or to file Form 24A contribution reports on time automatically lose their tax-exempt status.
The ADR said its analysis is based solely on reports submitted by parties to the respective state CEOs, and that it has not verified the data independently.
Comments