TRS receives Rs 193 cr in 2021-22 as contribution

Contribution reports of political parties disclosed that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) received a donation of nearly RS 193 crore while the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) received Rs 62.90 lakhs during the year 2021-22.

The Representation of the People Act says that the treasurer of a political party or any other person authorised by it will prepare a report about the contribution in excess of Rs 20,000 received by the party from any person or other entities in a financial year.

The report submitted by the TRS disclosed that the party received most of the contributions through electoral bonds. It received Rs 90 lakh from individuals or companies or institutions whereas it received Rs 40 crore from different Electoral trusts. Similarly, TRS received Rs 1,53,00,00,000 through electoral bonds during the year 2021-22.

On the other hand, the TDP received Rs 62,90,120 from 24 different donors during the year 2021-22.

Aiming for reforms and transparency in donations received by political parties, the poll panel has proposed reducing anonymous political donations from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000.

The Election Commission recently wrote a letter to the Union Law Ministry recommending various amendments in the Representation of the People (RP) Act.

In case the proposal gets approved, all donations above Rs 2,000 will be part of the contribution report which is submitted to the Commission.

A recent contribution report by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the ruling party in Jharkhand disclosed that the party received only Rs 1 lakh during the year 2021-22. JMM is not the only party which has recorded minimum contributionsAin the excess of Rs 20,000.

Earlier, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) informed the Election Commission that it did not receive any donation in excess of Rs 20,000 from individual donors and entities during the financial year 2021-22.