72% of T, AP political parties fail to disclose finances: ADR
Hyderabad : Nearly three-fourths of registered unrecognised political parties in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh failed to publicly disclose either their annual audit statements or contribution reports for 2024-25, raising fresh concerns over transparency and financial accountability in the political system, according to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Thursday. Of the 169 registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) in the two states, 123, or 72%, had neither annual audit statements nor contribution reports available on the websites of the respective chief electoral officers. 31 parties have both statements online Telangana accounted for 78 of the 123 parties without either disclosure, representing 75% of its 104 RUPPs. In Andhra Pradesh, 45 of the 65 such parties had not made either report available. Only 31 parties across both states had uploaded both the audit statement and contribution report. Telangana accounted for 17 of these parties, while Andhra Pradesh had 14. Another 15 parties had only one of the two disclosures available. A Hyderabad-based political party reported zero income and zero total donations for 2024-25, but disclosed receiving ₹1.29 lakh in contributions above ₹20,000. The party reported expenditure of ₹300 during the year. It had contested seven seats in the 2023 Telangana assembly elections, polling 49,423 votes without winning any seat. Similarly, Vishwa Bharath Party, registered in Dec 2021, declared an income of ₹900, total donations of ₹200 and expenditure of ₹5,000. However, its contribution report showed donations exceeding ₹20,000 amounting to ₹30,000. The party contested one assembly constituency in the 2023 elections, securing 55 votes. The two Telangana parties were among 14 parties across the country whose reported contributions above ₹20,000 exceeded their declared total donations. The report also noted that the Andhra Pradesh CEO’s website did not provide consolidated information on the submission status of annual reports for 2024-25. Available disclosures showed that Telangana-based parties reported a combined income of ₹18.9 lakh and expenditure of ₹15.8 lakh. Parties in Andhra Pradesh reported income of ₹70.8 lakh and expenditure of ₹78.2 lakh. Together, the parties declared total donations of ₹82.7 lakh, while contributions exceeding ₹20,000 amounted to nearly ₹1.9 crore. Nationally, ADR examined financial disclosures of 2,074 registered unrecognised political parties, of which only 461 had both audit statements and contribution reports available.
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