How much money do political parties in India receive in one year? Here’s a look at the amounts collected by India’s political parties as ‘contributions’ in the year right after the last Lok Sabha election in 2009.

Under sections 29B and 29C of the Representation of the People Act political parties are entitled to accept monetary contributions. These contributions are exempted from tax under section 13A of Income Tax Act. Details of these contributions can be found in the Income Tax returns filed by political parties.

These income tax returns are basically filed completely at the discretion of the political parties. There is no system of checking whether all information is disclosed in these returns or not. It is very likely that large amounts of money are never disclosed in these returns. In addition, these returns are never questioned or scrutinized by anyone including the Income Tax authorities.

Click here for relevant scanned portions of the income tax returns from 2009-10 made available publically by Association for Democratic Reforms.

This analysis focuses on income tax returns filed by India’s major parties for the financial year 2009-10.

1. Kitne Crore ki Donation ???

The data below shows the amount of money received by various parties as ‘’donations’’ in crores for the year 2009-10.

2. New Members

The data below shows the amount of money   received by various parties as ‘’membership fees’’ in crores for the year 2009-10. Also, based on the amount that parties charge for new memberships¹, the numbers of members inducted in the year 2009-10 for various parties have been estimated.

3. Link between Money and Power?

Since this data pertains to the year following the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, a comparison has been made taking into perspective the number of Lok Sabha seats won by various parties.

————————————

Copyright secured by Digiprove