Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is India’s richest political party, said a report by Association for Democratic Reforms on Tuesday. This report focuses on income and expenditure of the BJP and the Indian National Congress (Congress) during the Financial Year (FY) 2016-17 as submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

BJP declared an income of Rs 1,034.27 crore to the Election Commission. This is a rise of Rs 463.41 crore from the previous submission made. The party also declared expenditures accruing to Rs 710.057 crore during 2016-17 while Congress incurred an expenditure of Rs 321.66 crore which is Rs 96.30 crore more than its income for the same period.

Comparing the BJP and the Congress’ financial health, the report said, “Between FY 2015-16 and 2016-17, the income of BJP increased by 81.18 percent (Rs 463.41 cr) from Rs 570.86 cr during FY 2015-16 to Rs 1,034.27 cr during FY 2016-17 while the income of the Congress decreased by 14 percent (Rs 36.20 cr) from Rs 261.56 cr during FY 2015-16 to Rs 225.36 cr during FY 2016-17.” BJP and the Congress have declared donations/contributions as one of their three main sources of income. BJP has declared Rs 997.12 cr and the Congress has Rs 50.626 cr in the form of donations/contributions.

Apart from the BJP and the Congress, seven national political parties- BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Trinamool Congress- have declared a combined income of Rs 1,559.17 crore and expenditure of Rs 1,228.26 crore. The ADR report observed that four out of seven national parties (BJP, INC, NCP and CPI) have consistently delayed submitting their audit reports for the past five years. The top major parties, BJP and INC, have delayed submitting their audit reports by an average of almost 6 months, the report said.

The ADR, an NGO working for political and electoral reforms in the country, recommended that on the lines of a Supreme Court order, the Election Commission India should impose rules that no part of the Form 24A submitted by political parties providing details of donations above Rs 20,000 should be left blank. It also demanded that full details of all donors should be made available for public scrutiny under the Right of Information (RTI) Act.