With Rs 2,904.18 crore declared assets, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the richest political party in the country, followed by the Congress with Rs 928.84 crore and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with Rs 738 cr. Among the regional parties, the highest assets were declared by Samajwadi Party (SP)  worth Rs 572.21 cr (28.28%), followed by BJD worth Rs 232.27 cr and AIADMK worth Rs 206.75 crore.  “The total assets of seven national- BJP, Congress, NCP, BSP, CPI, CPI  (Marxist) and TMC  and 41 regional parties in 2018-19 is to be  amounted to Rs 5349.25 crore and Rs  2023.71 crore, respectively,” the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said in its report pertaining to assets and liabilities of the national and regional parties in 2018-19. The total liabilities declared the national and regional parties amounted to be Rs 213.231 crore.

According to the ADR, the total assets declared by the seven national parties in 2016-17 amounted to Rs 3,260.81 cr which increased by 6 percent to Rs 3,456.65 crore in 2017-18. In case of  regional parties, ADR’s analysis showed that the assets and liabilities declared by the 39 regional parties in 2016-17 in  amounted to Rs 1,267.81 crore while 41 regional parties in  2017-18 declared Rs 1,320.06 crore.

“The liabilities declared by political parties fall under two major heads: Borrowings (from banks, overdraft facilities and sundry creditors) and other liabilities. Political Parties declared Rs 123.40 cr (57.87%) under Other Liabilities and Rs 89.831cr (42.13%) under Borrowings,” the ADR said.

The Congress has declared the highest total liabilities of Rs 78.415 cr (58.75%) followed by BJP that declared Rs 37.463 cr (28.06%). The regional political parties declared the total liabilities of Rs 79.751 crore in 2018-19. Regional Parties declared Rs 47.181 crore under borrowings and Rs 32.57 crore under other liabilities. TDP declared the highest total liabilities of Rs 18.10 cr (22.696%) followed by JDS that declared Rs 18.01 cr (22.583%) in 2018-19.

“The lowest capital was declared by CPI of Rs 24.87 cr followed by NCP of Rs 31.05 cr,” it said.