File Picture Courtesy : The Indian Express
With a declared income of Rs 82.76 crore, the Samajwadi Party is the richest of the 32 regional parties in India, a report by Association for Democratic Reforms said .
The Samajwadi Party was closely followed by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with an income of Rs 72.92 crore and AIADMK with Rs 48.88 crore.
The total income of the 32 regional parties for 2016-17 fiscal was Rs 321.03 crore.
Out of these, 14 parties claimed decline in income and 13 others an increase in income.
Five regional parties did not submitted their income tax return to the Election Commission. These are Indian National Lok Dal, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, All India United Democratic Front, and Kerala Congress-Mani.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Janata Dal-Secular declared that more than 87 percent of their total respective incomes remaining unspent, while the TDP said 67 percent of its income remaining unspent.
The DMK declared spending Rs 81.88 crore more than its income while the Samajwadi Party and AIADMK declared spending Rs 64.34 crore and Rs 37.89 crore more than their total incomes respectively.
Apart from these 32, audit reports of 16 regional parties were unavailable. These include Aam Aadmi Party, National Conference, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
