Jammu: Even as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) seeks to regain lost political ground in Jammu and Kashmir, the party is facing another major challenge—a shrinking financial base.
Latest financial disclosures reveal a sharp decline in the PDP’s income, donations and membership collections, highlighting the widening resource gap between the party and its principal rival, the ruling Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC), whose assets now exceed Rs 37 crore.
A report quoting PDP’s financial statements for 2024-25, reveal that the party’s total income stood at Rs 10.01 lakh, a steep decline from Rs 27.54 lakh recorded during the previous financial year. The figures indicate a fall of nearly 64 per cent in the party’s annual income within a year.
Donations, which constitute the primary source of revenue for most political parties, also witnessed a significant decline.
The PDP received Rs 9.60 lakh in donations during 2024-25, compared to Rs 22.90 lakh in the previous year.
Even more striking was the drop in membership-related earnings. Income from membership fees plunged from Rs 4.25 lakh in 2023-24 to just Rs 9,300 during the latest financial year, reflecting a sharp fall in organisational collections.
Data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) further underlines the party’s financial difficulties.
According to the ADR report, the PDP reported an income of around Rs 10 lakh during 2024-25 while its expenditure exceeded Rs 16 lakh, resulting in spending substantially higher than its annual earnings.
The party’s total assets currently stand at approximately Rs 19.15 lakh.
In contrast, the National Conference remains financially well-positioned.
According to the party’s latest available financial disclosures for 2023-24, the NC reported a total income of Rs 2.77 crore. Of this, Rs 1.04 crore came through donations while Rs 16.82 lakh was earned through rental income.
A major contributor to the party’s revenue was interest earned on investments and deposits, which generated Rs 1.56 crore during the year.
The interest income alone was nearly fifteen times higher than the PDP’s total annual income for 2024-25.
The NC’s corpus fund stands at Rs 35.68 crore. In addition, the party reported cash and bank deposits worth Rs 19.61 crore.
Overall, the value of the party’s assets exceeds Rs 37 crore, making it one of the financially strongest regional political parties in Jammu and Kashmir.
The financial disclosures also show that the NC spent over Rs 2.72 crore during 2023-24 on staff salaries, election-related activities, publicity campaigns and public outreach programmes.
Notably, the party has not yet made public its financial details for the period after it returned to power and formed the government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, data relating to political donations in Jammu and Kashmir shows that national parties continue to attract the bulk of contributions from the Union Territory.
During the 2024-25 financial year, national political parties received a combined Rs 4.22 crore in donations from Jammu and Kashmir. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accounted for the overwhelming majority of this amount, receiving Rs 4.13 crore in contributions.
The Congress received donations worth Rs 9.5 lakh during the same period.
The figures also reveal that individual donors remained the biggest contributors to political funding in Jammu and Kashmir.
Of the total donations made to national parties, approximately Rs 3.37 crore came from individual contributors, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of all donations.
Corporate entities and business groups contributed around Rs 84 lakh.
