New Delhi: Various regional parties received over Rs. 2100 crore of cash collections accounting for a whopping 63% of total funds during state polls between 2004 and 2015, according to a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The ruling parties in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Punjab are also the most cash-rich regional political parties of the country.
Samajwadi Party leads the pack with Rs 186.8 crore collection and Rs 90.09 crore expenditure.
AAP, which has contested two assembly elections till date, came second with Rs 38.54 crore in funds collected and Rs 22.66 crore of funds spent.
In case of state polls, fund collected through cheque payments was Rs 1244.86 crore between 2004 and 2015. The study did not take into account the recent polls in five states.\
In terms of expenditure, the the three Lok Sabha polls saw 83 per cent of spending, or Rs 2044.67 crores, through cheque while this percentage was 65 per cent during assembly polls.
Cash was 44% of fund collected in the last three Lok Sabha elections.
The ADR survey, which details the fundings collected and expenditure incurred by regional parties, noted that SP, AAP, AIADMK, BJD and SAD together collected Rs 267.14 crore, 62 per cent of the total funds declared by all the regional parties, during Lok Sabha polls.
"SP topped the charts with Rs 118 crore as collection and Rs 90.09 crore as expenditure. Despite contesting only in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, AAP came second in terms of collection by declaring Rs 51.83 crore. AIADMK is placed third with Rs 37.66 crore," ADR said.
According to the ECI guidelines, parties should not make any expenditure above Rs 20,000 in cash but there is no provision in the expenditure format for the parties to declare expenses below or above Rs 20,000, ADR said.
"Hence, it appears that the parties are taking advantage of the opacity in the expenditure statements to collect and spend funds in cash," the survey adds.
