At Rs 6,046 crore, BJP has highest assets of top eight Indian parties: ADR report

The total assets declared by the eight national parties increased to Rs 8,829.158 crore during the financial year 2021-22, of which the highest assets were declared by the BJP at Rs 6,046.81 crore, a report said on Monday.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in its report said the total assets declared by the eight national parties during FY 2020-21 amounted to Rs 7,297.61 crore, which increased to Rs 8,829.15 crore during FY 2021-22.

The report stated that during 2020-21, the declared assets of BJP totalled Rs 4,990.19 crore which increased by 21.17 per cent to Rs 6,046.81 crore during FY 2021-22.

The report further said that for 2020-21, the declared assets of Congress totalled Rs 691.11 crore, which increased by 16.58 per cent to Rs 805.68 crore during 2021-22.

The report also pointed out that the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is the only national party to show a decrease in its annual declared assets. "The total assets of BSP between FY 2020-21 and 2021-22 decreased by 5.74 per cent from Rs 732.79 crore to Rs 690.71 crore," the report said.

The report highlighted that the Trinamool Congress witnessed a massive growth in its asset during 2021-22. "The total assets of Trinamool Congress increased from Rs 182.001 crore during FY 2020-21 to Rs 458.10 crore, an increase of 151.70 per cent," the report said.

The latest report analysed the assets and liabilities declared by the eight national parties — BJP, Congress, NCP, BSP, CPI, CPI(M), AITC and NPP for FY 2020-21 and 2021-22.

The report also stated that the assets of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also grew in FY 2021-22 to Rs 74.54 crore as compared to Rs 30.93 crore. Whereas the assets of the CPI rose from Rs 14.05 crore in FY 2020-21 to Rs 15.72 crore in FY 2021-22.

"The assets of the CPI-M assets increased from Rs 654.79 crore in FY 2020-21 to Rs 735.77 crore in FY 2021-22," the report highlighted.

The report also analysed the liabilities of the eight national parties and said that the total liabilities for FY 2020-21 declared by the parties were Rs 103.55 crore, with Congress declaring the highest liabilities of Rs 71.58 crore followed by CPI(M) with Rs 16.109 crore.

It also said that for FY 2021-22, the highest liabilities of Rs 41.95 crore are declared by Congress followed by Rs 12.21 crore in the case of CPI(M) and Rs 5.17 crore in the case of BJP.

It also said that between FY 2020-21 and 2021-22, five parties declared a decrease in liabilities, Congress (decrease of Rs 29.63 crore), BJP (decrease of Rs 6.035 crore), CPI(M) (decrease of Rs 3.899 crore), AITC (decrease of Rs 1.30 crore) and Rs 1 lakh liabilities decrease of the NCP.

The report also said that the CPI declared Rs 6.28 lakh in both years and BSP and NPP have declared zero amounts for FY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22 as liabilities.

The report also studied the capital declared by the national parties for FY 2020-21 and 2021-22 and said the total capital or reserve fund set aside by the national parties during FY 2020-21 was Rs 7,194.064 crore, and Rs 8,766.494 crore for FY 2021-22, after adjusting for liabilities for the respective years, from the total assets of the parties.

It said that for FY 2021-22, BJP has the highest capital at present after declaring Rs 6,041.64 crore followed by Rs 763.73 crore of Congress and Rs 723.56 crore of CPI(M).

It further said that during FY 2021-22, the National People's Party has the least declared capital fund of Rs 1.825 crore, followed by CPI with Rs 15.6752 crore.

In its conclusion, the report pointed out that the national parties failed to adhere to the ICAI guidelines that direct parties to declare details of the financial institutions, banks or agencies from whom loans were taken. "The guidelines specify that the parties should state the “terms of repayment of term loans on the basis of due date such as a year, 1-5 years or payable after 5 years," it said.

It also said that the details of fixed assets received as donation by the parties should be declared, such as original cost of the asset, any additions or deductions, depreciation written off, cost of construction, etc. The same should also be declared of fixed assets purchased by the political parties, not all national parties declared this information.

The report further said that details of loans given by the parties in cash or kind should be specified and if it constitutes more than 10 per cent of the total loans, nature and amount of such loans should be declared specifically by the parties, not declared by all national parties.

It also said that the ICAI guidelines, on auditing of political parties which were also endorsed by the poll panel in order to improve transparency in the finances of political parties, remain guidelines only and have not been actively taken up by the political parties as a mandatory procedure to disclose details of their income.