The Bharatiya Janata Party declared assets worth Rs 4,847.78 crore in 2019-2020, a report by non-governmental organisation Association for Democratic Reforms, or ADR, said on Friday. It accounted for 69.37% of the total assets declared by all seven national parties.
It became the richest national party followed by Bahujan Samaj Party (Rs 698.33 crore) and the Congress (Rs 588.16 crore).
The organisation analysed the declared assets and liabilities of the seven national parties and 44 regional parties.
The seven national parties include the BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, All India Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.
The assets declared by the parties include fixed deposits, loans, advances and investments.
The BJP declared fixed deposits or fixed deposit receipts of Rs 3,253 crore, while the Bahujan Samaj Party declared fixed deposits of Rs 618.86 crore and Congress of Rs 240.90 crore.
In fixed assets, the BJP declared Rs 716.67 crore, the BSP declared Rs 31.22 crore and the Congress declared Rs 215.72 crore.
Among regional parties, the Samajwadi Party declared the highest assets of Rs 563.47 crore, followed by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (Rs 301.47 crore) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Rs 267.61 crore).
In September, a report by the ADR had found that the BJP had received Rs 2,642.63 crore from unidentified sources in the financial year 2019-’20. It calculated that the BJP’s receipts from unidentified sources were equal to 78.24% of the total income of the seven national parties.
Electoral bonds worth Rs 3,429.56 crore were redeemed by political parties in the financial year 2019-’20, and 87.29% of those was received by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, another report released on August 27 stated.
Electoral bonds are monetary instruments that citizens or corporate groups can buy from a bank and give to a political party, which is then free to redeem them.