Context: Recently, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has told that the contribution reports of only 78 (3.39%) of the total 2,301 registered unrecognised political parties are available in the public domain for 2018-19.

What are Registered Unrecognised Parties?
The Registered Unrecognised Parties constitutes:

• The newly registered parties or those which have not secured enough percentage of votes in Assembly or General Elections to become a State party
• The political parties which have never contested in elections since being registered
• The Registered Unrecognised Parties do not enjoy all the benefits extended to the recognised parties.

Key Highlights

• The report highlighted that only 82 such parties (3.56%) for 2017-18 are uploaded on the respective State Chief Electoral Officers’ websites.
• The number of these parties increased two-fold in the last 10 years, from 1,112 in 2010 to 2,301 in 2019.
• There are 2,360 political parties registered with the Election Commission of India and 2,301 or 97.50% of them are unrecognised.
• The reports analysed by the ADR declared 6,860 donations worth Rs 65.45 crore during 2018-19 and 6,138 donations of Rs 24.6 crore for 2017-18.
• State-wise, 653 parties or 28.38% belong to Uttar Pradesh, followed by 291 parties or 12.65% from Delhi and 184 or 8% from Tamil Nadu.
• Himachal Pradesh had the maximum share of submission in 2017-18, with five of the 6 registered unrecognised parties furnishing the contribution reports.
• The contribution reports of none of the registered unrecognised political parties of 25 States/UTs are available on the respective State CEO websites for 2018-19.