The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may be relatively a new entrant in Indian politics but it has managed to secure an impressive record against its seasoned and powerful regional peers in terms of collecting election funds. On the other hand, the Samajwadi Party ranked first among other parties for collecting and spending maximum amount of funds to fight state and Lok Sabha elections that held between 2004 and 2015.
The AAP stands second in the total funds for 2014 Lok Sabha election by declaring Rs 51.83 crores, said a research report released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The Ahmedabad-based non-political group has analysed and published a report on funds collected and expenditure incurred by political parties during elections held in last 11 years.
The election fund of the AAP, which has just contested one Lok Sabha election, forms 19 per cent of total funds collected by top five regional parties which contested in three Lok Sabha elections.
The five parties, include SP, AAP, AIADMK, BJD and SAD, that have declared collecting a total of Rs 267.14 crores which forms 62 per cent of the total funds declared by all the regional parties collectively. They have declared collecting Rs 129.22 crores in cash (48 per cent of total funds) and Rs 137.72 crores by cheque (52 per cent of total funds).
The SP holds the first place for collecting Rs 186.8 crore and spending Rs 96.54 crore during state elections held between between 2004 and 2015. The Shiv Sena has come second by declaring expenditure of Rs 29.61 crore of its Rs 31.67 crore election war chest during the same period
The AAP, meanwhile, which has just contested two assembly elections in the study period, comes a distant second with Rs 38.54 crore as total funds collected. Of which the party has spent 22.66 crore.
The study further reveals that during the 71 Assembly elections held between 2004 and 2015, collectively political parties have declared, collecting Rs 2107.80 crore in cash (6 per cent of total funds) and Rs 1244.86 crore by cheque (37 per cent of total funds). And Rs 15.39 crore was declared by the parties as funds collected ‘in kind’.
