Assets of Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP), which was voted out of power in Uttar Pradesh last year grew by close to 200 per cent when it ruled the state, while the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu saw its assets up by 155 per cent, as per a study conducted by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) into the assets, liabilities and capital declared by the 22 regional parties between FY 2011-12 and 2015-16.
During FY 2011-12, the declared asset of SP was Rs 212.86 crore which increased by 198 per cent to Rs 634.96 crore during FY 2015-16. SP, AIADMK and Shiv Sena are the major regional parties to show a steady increase in their annual declared assets.
The total assets of AIADMK between FY 2011-12 and 2015-16 increased by 155 per cent (Rs 88.21 crore to Rs 224.87 crore) while that of Shiv Sena increased by 92 per cent from Rs 20.59 crore to Rs 39.568 crore.
The average total assets declared by the 20 regional parties during FY 2011-12 was Rs 24.11 crore which increased to Rs 65.77 crore during FY 2015-16. YSR Congress was registered in March, 2011 and AAP was registered in November, 2012. The average assets declared by the these two parties during FY 2012-13 was Rs 1.165 crore which increased to Rs 3.765 crore during FY- 2015-16.
During FY 2011-12, the regional parties declared maximum assets under FDR/deposits which amounted to Rs 331.54 crore (68.77 per cent of total assets) which increased to Rs 1054.80 cr (80.19 per cent of total assets) in FY 2015-16.
The total capital/reserve fund set aside by the regional parties during FY 2011-12 was Rs 434.635 crore, which increased by Rs 823.535 crore (189.48 per cent) to Rs 1258.17 crore during FY 2015-16. Between FY 2014-15 & 2015-16, the capital declared by regional parties increased by 14.66 per cent or Rs 160.90 crore.
SP has the highest capital of Rs 634.913 crore during FY 2015-16 followed by Rs 257.18 crore of DMK and Rs 224.84 crore of AIADMK. TDP declared total capital fund of Rs 11.538 crore during FY- 2011-12, which increased to Rs 46.09 crore during FY- 2015-16, an increase of Rs 34.552 crore or 299 per cent.
In its statement, ADR has said that as the income-expenditure statements of political parties are assessed rarely (even those of national parties), authenticity of the accounts submitted remains doubtful. When the authenticity is not verified, the auditors who might be under-reporting the accounts, remain out of purview of punishment.
With online submission of I-T returns, political parties do not submit details of income, expenditure and assets and liabilities as attachments. Thus, the I-T department too does not have enough information on the finances of political parties. Annual scrutiny of documents submitted by political parties is recommended.
