According to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declared assets worth Rs 4,847.78 crores in financial year 2019-20 – 69.37 percent of the total assets declared to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by seven national parties. The analysis by the poll reforms advocacy group stated that the total assets declared by all the parties amounted to Rs 6,988.57 crores. Additionally, 44 regional parties declared assets worth Rs 2,129.38 crores.

The BJP was followed by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with a declaration of Rs 698.33 crores or 9.99 percent, and the Congress with a declaration of Rs 588.16 crores or 8.42 per cent. Other national parties included the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with Rs 569.519 crores, the All-India Trinamool Congress with Rs 247.78 crores, the Communist Party of India with Rs 29.78 crores, and the Nationalist Congress Party having declared assets worth Rs 8.20 crores.

While the BJP’s share of the total assets of the seven parties increased from 54.29 percent in 2018-2019, the Congress remained as the party with maximum liabilities – accounting for Rs 49.55 crores of the total declared liabilities of the national parties worth Rs 74.27 crores.

“The National Political Parties declared the total liabilities of Rs 74.27 crore in FY 2019-20. National Parties declared Rs 4.26 crore under Borrowings and Rs 70.01 cr under Other Liabilities and in the FY 2019-20, Congress declared the highest total liabilities of Rs 49.55 crore (66.72 per cent) followed by AITC that declared Rs 11.32 crore (15.24 per cent),” mentioned the ADR report.

“Regional Parties declared Rs 30.29 crore under Borrowings and Rs 30.37 cr under Other Liabilities and in the FY 2019-20, TDP declared the highest total liabilities of Rs 30.342 crore (50.02 per cent) followed by DMK that declared Rs 8.05 crore (13.27 per cent),” it added.

Among the regional parties, the Samajwadi Party (SP) lead the list, having declared assets worth Rs 563.47 crores, followed by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with Rs 301.47 crores and the AIADMK with Rs 267.61 crores. Other regional parties that topped the list includes the Shiv Sena with assets worth Rs 185.90 crores, the DMK with Rs 184.24 crores, and the Janata Dal (United) (JDU) with Rs 45.094 crores.

Under the FDR or Fixed Deposits category for the financial year, the largest share of Rs 1,639.51 crores or 76.99 percent of the total assets were declared by the regional parties. The BJP and the BSP were the top two national parties in the category, having declared FDRs worth Rs 3,253.00 crores and Rs 618.86 crores, respectively, followed by the Congress with a declaration of Rs 240.90 crores.