'Acche Din' For The BJP, Income Doubles In FY19

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declared an income of more than ₹2400 crores in financial year (FY) 2019, according to its audited financial accounts filed with the Election Commission of India (ECI). This figure is more than 2.3 times its income recorded in FY2018, which stood at just above ₹1027 crores. The BJP's declared income from electoral bonds stands out in the list, as its income from the scheme has increased more than seven times. At the end of FY19, the BJP's income from electoral bonds was ₹1450 cores, and in FY18 was at ₹210 crores.

Also Read: Foreign Funding For Political Parties: All You Need To Know

While these figures overshadows corresponding income statistics of rival Congress, the opposition party also saw a jump of 4 times in its income. The ECI released the audited report by the Congress too, who declared an income of over ₹918 crores for FY19, compared to an income of ₹199.15 crores in FY18. The Congress also saw a big jump in income from electoral bonds - ₹383.2 crores in FY19, compared to an income of just ₹5 crores from the scheme in FY18.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is another interesting declaration, with their income being over ₹192 crores in FY19 as compared to an income of just ₹5.16 crores in FY18. The TMC made a declaration of income of ₹97 crores through electoral bonds in FY19, over zero income from the scheme in FY18.

The audited reports of the BJP, Congress and Communist Party of India (CPI) have been released by the ECI months after the audited finances were released for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The TMC's accounts was released on October 28, and the CPI-M and BSP on November 13.

How do national parties' income stack up?

The BJP by far takes the cake as the national party with the highest income in India. This is followed by that of the Congress and the TMC. While the BJP's increase in income in the largest, all national parties saw a jump in income ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in election year 2019.

Contributions through voluntary donations

In FY19, the BJP garnered more than four times the voluntary donations (including those from electoral bonds) than the Congress did. The BJP's income from voluntary donations stood at ₹2,354.02 crores with the figure from the Congress being at ₹551.55 crores.

The parties' report with the ECI categorises income of political parties under the following four heads:

1. Contribution/earnings/donation/grants
   
2. Fees and Subscriptions
3. Other sources of income
4. Collection from issuance of coupons

Also Read: BJP Attracts 16 Times More Donations Than Congress

Contribution through electoral bonds

Only the BJP, Congress and the TMC have declared income through electoral bonds, with the BJP's contribution far exceeding those of the Congress and TMC.

BJP's ₹1,400 crore surplus

The BJP's surplus (incomes minus expenditure) far exceeds those of the other national parties.

The reports consist of some amusing data points too.

1. IN FY19, the BJP reported ₹2.72 lakh from the sale of old newspapers. This is down from last financial year, where they declared ₹3.08 lakh from the same source
2. The Congress has spent ₹95.34 lakh under the banner 'Congress Celebration Expenses'. This has increased close to three times the spending under the same banner, which stood at ₹36.19 lakh in FY18
   
3. The BJP spent a massive ₹435 crores on advertising and publicity, with the Congress spending ₹22.5 crores.

All audited accounts for national parties can be found with the ECI can be found here.