BJP Assets Rise 22% In 2017-18, Congress Reports 15% Fall: Poll Watchdog

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31.07.2019

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NEW DELHI:

The total assets of the BJP, India's richest political party, rose by 22.27% in 2017-18 to touch Rs. 1,483.35 crore over the previous financial year's declaration of Rs. 1,213 crore, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has reported.

According to the election watchdog, the Congress' assets - in contrast - slumped by 15.26% from Rs. 854.75 crore in 2016-17 to Rs. 724.35 crore in 2017-18. Its ally in Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party, did not fare much better with its assets dipping by 16.39% from Rs. 11.41 crore to Rs. 9.54 crore during this period.

However, not all non-BJP parties scored low on the monetary front. The total assets of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress increased by 10.86% to Rs. 29.10 crore in 2017-18, from Rs. 26.25 crore the previous year. Likewise, the Bahujan Samaj Party's assets rose to Rs.716.72 crore from Rs. 680.63 in 2016-17.

In this case, the assets of political parties include liabilities such as fixed assets, loans, advances, deposits and investments.

The BJP also scored the most in terms of capital, which is the difference between an organisation's assets and liabilities, with a towering figure of Rs. 1,461 crore. It was followed by the Bahujan Samaj Party at Rs. 714.97 crore and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Rs. 479.58 crore.

According to the report, the total liability of political parties in the country dipped by 27.26% to Rs. 374.61 crore in 2017-18 as compared to Rs. 514.99 crore the previous year (an average of Rs. 73.57 crore per party). "The Congress had declared the highest liabilities of Rs.461.73 crore in 2016-17, followed by the BJP with Rs. 20.03 crore," it read. "However, in 2017-18, the Congress declared liabilities amounting to Rs. 324.2 crore followed by the BJP with Rs. 21.38 crore and the Trinamool Congress with Rs. 10.65 crore."

The BJP won 303 seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections as compared to the Congress' 52, comfortably crossing the halfway mark of 272 required to remain in power at the centre.