VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam (TD) led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has emerged as the political party that earns the second highest income among the regional parties of the country while the income of TRS and YSRC had come down in the last two years. The income of TRS had dipped from Rs 8.908 crores in 2015-16 to Rs 3.79 crores in 2016-17. YSRC’s income too came down from Rs 1.91 crore to '0.94 crore.
Membership fees and donations, FD interest, bank interest and interest on IT refund, Election expenses refund etc. are the top sources of income for the TRS. The TD and the AIMIM were also modest in spending their income. TD spent only 33 per cent of the total income of the year and its income had gone up when compared to 2015-16. Compared to the TD, another regional party from the state YSRC has pretty less income and its expenditure was more than the income.
Fees and subscriptions, voluntary donations/contribution, interest on deposits with scheduled banks in India, earmarked funds and IT refund are the three main sources of income for TD. Amongst all regional parties, TD had received the highest amount worth Rs 60.75 crore from ‘Fees and Subscriptions’. It forms 83.31 per cent of its total income. The income of TD and AIMIM, among the total regional parties, in Telugu speaking states have been on an upswing.
An analysis of the audit reports of 32 regional parties in the year 2016-17 that were submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) shows that TD’s income was 22.71 per cent of the total income of all the 32 regional parties. TD declared an income of Rs 72.92 crores in 2016-17. The audit reports were analysed by a non-partisan, non-governmental organisation Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) that works in the area of electoral and political reforms. Telangana’s AIMIM had declared an income of Rs 7.42 crores and spent only Rs 50 lakh.
