The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is the second wealthiest regional party in India, with a whopping 318 per cent jump in its annual income in 2021-22. The Naveen Patnaik led BJD comes a close second after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). 

These facts have been disclosed in the latest findings of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). As per the latest report by ADR, the regional party had earned Rs 307.28 crore in 2021-22, which is up from Rs 73.34 crore in 2020-21. The party had Rs 278.65 crore excess income after expenditure of around Rs 28.63 crore during the financial year. 

The report says that BJD did witness a slump in its income in 2020-21, but it reported the highest increase in income of Rs 233.94 crore, followed by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now Bharat Rashtra Samiti) and DMK, that declared an increase of Rs 180.45 crore and Rs 168.79 crore respectively in 2021-22. 

The total income of the 36 regional parties covered in this report is Rs 1213.13 crore, and the share of BJD’s income was 25.33 per cent, which is the second highest. The comparative analysis of the income of the parties between the financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21 shows that BJD’s income had declined by 19 per cent, from Rs 90.35 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 73.34 crore in 2020-21.

In 2021-22, BJD had received Rs 291 crore, which accounts for 94.7 per cent of its total income, from voluntary contributions, especially through electoral bonds. This was also the second highest among the regional parties in the country. Apart from this, Rs 16.17 crore bank interest and Rs 11 lakh from other sources added to its income.

The report also mentions that the most common items of expenditure, on which parties have incurred highest expenses, are election expenditure, administrative and general expenses. BJD has spent around Rs 23 crore for elections, Rs 78 lakh towards employees cost and Rs 26 lakh for administrative and general expenses besides Rs 4.5 crore other expenditures.  

The national parties are not far behind in terms of income growth. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress saw the highest rise of 633 per cent, from Rs 74.41 crore to Rs 545.74 crore. This can be attributed to 96 per cent of its income coming from the electoral bonds. The Centre ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s income rose by 154 per cent, from Rs 752.33 crore to Rs 1917.12 crore, that of Congress was up by 89.4 per cent, from Rs 285.76 crore to Rs 541.27 crore.

The ADR report has been prepared on the basis of the total income and expenditure declared by the parties in their IT returns submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI).Twenty parties, including the BJD, had submitted their audit reports on time. The regional outfit was ranked third to submit the report on August 26, 2022. The due date for submission of annual audited accounts for the parties was October 31.