Amid India’s economic crisis, BJP’s fortune rose by 22% in 2017-18: ADR report

The total assets of the BJP in 2017-18 registered a rise of 22% compared to previous financial year's asset declaration of₹1,213 crore to ₹1,483.35 crore, election watchdog Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has said.

An ADR report said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was among the seven national parties whose assets, as declared by them during 2017-18, was 6% more than their declaration in 2016-17.

The total assets declared by the seven parties -- BJP, Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Trinamool Congress (TMC)-- in 2017-18 was ₹3,456.65 crore, up from ₹3,260.81 crore in 2016-17.

"During 2016-17, the declared assets of the BJP totaled ₹1,213.13 crore and increased by 22.27% to₹₹1,483.35 crore during 2017-18," the report said.

As per the ADR report, the Congress and the NCP were the only two national parties that have shown a decrease in their annual declared assets.

The total assets of the Congress between 2016-17 and 2017-18 decreased by 15.26%(from ₹854.75 crore to₹ 724.35 crore) while those of the NCP fell by 16.39% (from ₹11.41 crore to ₹9.54 crore) during the corresponding period.

However, the total assets of the TMC increased by 10.86%, from ₹26.25 crore during 2016-17 to ₹29.10 crore in 2017-18.

The assets of the BSP also showed an increase from ₹680.63 crore in 2016-17 to ₹716.72 crore in 2017-18, while the assets of the CPI-M were ₹63.76 crore in 2016-17 and it went up to₹482.1 crore in 2017-18.

The assets of the CPI also rose from ₹10.88 crore in 2016-2017 to C11.49 crore in 2017-18.

The assets include fixed assets, loans and advances, deposits made and investments, the report said.

According to the ADR report, the total liabilities for 2016-17 declared by these parties, however, amounted to ₹514.99 crore (an average of ₹73.57 crore per party), which decreased by 27.26 per cent to ₹374.61 crore in 2017-18.

"For 2016-17, the Congress declared the highest liabilities of ₹461.73 crore followed by the BJP with ₹20.03 crore.

"And for 2017-18, highest liabilities of ₹324.2 crore were declared by the Congress followed by the BJP with₹21.38 crore and the TMC with 10.65 crore."

Four political parties declared a decrease in liabilities between 2016-17 and 2017-18 -- Congress ₹137.53 crore, CPI-M ₹ 3.02 crore, NCP₹1.34 crore and TMC ₹55 lakh -- while BJP, CPI and BSP have declared an increase in liabilities during 2017-18.