78 Telangana parties lack public financial disclosures, ADR review finds

Hyderabad | 30-10-2026 : Annual audit statements and contribution reports for 2024-25 were both absent from the chief electoral officer’s website for 78 of Telangana’s 104 registered unrecognised political parties, according to an Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) review reported by The Times of India. The finding covers 75% of the state’s parties in that category.

The review, released on Thursday, October 29, also examined Andhra Pradesh and identified discrepancies between donation figures reported in different financial disclosures by two Telangana-based parties. ADR said the reasons for those differences could be determined only by examining their original accounts and contribution reports, according to the newspaper.

Only 17 Telangana parties had both reports online

Across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, 123 of the 169 registered unrecognised political parties had neither document available on their respective chief electoral officers’ websites. In Andhra Pradesh, that group comprised 45 of the state’s 65 parties in the category, The Times of India reported.

Only 31 parties across the two states had both types of disclosure available online: 17 in Telangana and 14 in Andhra Pradesh. Another 15 parties had just one of the two documents available.

• In Telangana, six parties had only annual audit statements online, while three had only contribution reports.
• In Andhra Pradesh, two parties had only audit statements available and four had only contribution reports.

The findings concern the availability of documents on the electoral authorities’ websites. The newspaper reported that Telangana’s chief electoral officer website provided information on the status of parties’ audit-report submissions, while Andhra Pradesh’s website lacked consolidated information on annual-report submission status for 2024-25.

Donation figures show discrepancies

According to The Times of India, an unnamed Hyderabad-based party declared no income and no total donations for 2024-25, but its contribution disclosure listed ₹1.29 lakh received in donations above ₹20,000. It reported expenditure of ₹300.

That party had contested seven constituencies in the 2023 Telangana assembly elections, receiving 49,423 votes without securing a seat, the newspaper reported. The supplied report did not identify the party by name.

Vishwa Bharath Party, registered in December 2021, reported income of ₹900, total donations of ₹200 and expenditure of ₹5,000. Its contribution report, however, recorded ₹30,000 in donations exceeding ₹20,000. The party contested one constituency in the 2023 assembly elections and received 55 votes.

The two Telangana parties were among 14 nationally whose disclosed contributions above ₹20,000 exceeded their declared total donations. ADR’s qualification about examining the original records leaves the reasons for these discrepancies unresolved.

Available accounts offer a partial financial picture

The available disclosures showed combined income of ₹18.9 lakh and expenditure of ₹15.8 lakh for Telangana-based parties, according to the newspaper. Andhra Pradesh parties reported income of ₹70.8 lakh and expenditure of ₹78.2 lakh.

Across the two states, declared total donations amounted to ₹82.7 lakh, while reported contributions exceeding ₹20,000 totalled nearly ₹1.9 crore. Nationally, ADR reviewed disclosures for 2,074 registered unrecognised political parties; only 461 had both audit statements and contribution reports available.

Sources: The Times of India, reporting on the Association for Democratic Reforms review published on October 29, 2026.