BJP’s assets increased by 22%, INC has highest liabilities — report

Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, July 31: India’s economic slowdown may show no signs of abating but the total assets of seven national political parties have increased by a six per cent or more in one year – from INR 3,260.81 cr. in 2016-17 to INR 3,456.65 cr. in 2017-18, according to election watchdog Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The ADR stated in its report released on Wednesday that it analysed the assets, liabilities and capital declared by seven national parties namely the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPM) and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).

BJP showed a 22 per cent increase in its assets from INR 1213.13 cr. during FY 2016-17 to INR 1483.35 cr. during FY 2017-18. On the other hand, the INC and NCP showed a decline in their annual assets with the former registering a 15.26% decrease and the latter by 16.39%. (Refer chart: 1)

With respect to liabilities, the INC declared tops the chart with INR 324.2 cr. during FY 2017-18, followed by BJP with INR 21.38 cr. and AITC with INR 10.65 cr. For FY 2016-17 too, INC declared the highest liabilities of INR 461.73 cr. followed by BJP with INR 20.03 cr. BJP, CPI and BSP showed an increase in liabilities during 2017-18, while INC, CPM, NCP and AITC reported a decline between 2017-17 and 2017-18. (Refer chart: 2)

The total capital set aside by the national parties “during FY 2016-17 was INR 2745.81 cr., and INR 3082.04 cr. for FY 2017-18, after adjusting for liabilities for the respective years, from the total assets of the parties,” the report stated.

BJP currently has the highest capital (INR 1461.97 cr.), followed by BSP (INR 714.97 cr.) and CPM (INR 479.58 cr.). CPI had the least capital fund (INR 1.43 cr.). (Refer table)

Political parties in India do not fall under the accounting standards issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Therefore, in order to ensure transparency and improve auditing standards, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has requested the ICAI to set guidelines to audit their financial statements, the report said.