The total assets declared by the eight national parties grew to Rs 8,829.158 crore during the fiscal year 2021–22, with the...

The total assets declared by the eight national parties grew to Rs 8,829.158 crore during the fiscal year 2021–22, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declaring the most assets at Rs 6,046.81 crore during the fiscal year 2021–22, according to a report released on Monday.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said that the total assets declared by the eight national parties during FY 2020–21 amounted to Rs 7,297.61 crore, which climbed to Rs 8,829.15 crore during FY 2021–22.

According to the report, the BJP's declared assets totaled Rs 4,990.19 crore in 2020–21, rising by 21.17 percent to Rs 6,046.81 crore in FY 2021–22.

The report also stated that Congress's declared assets for 2020–21 were Rs 691.11 crore, and that amount increased by 16.58 percent to Rs 805.68 crore for 2021–22.

The report also pointed out that the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is the only national party with a decline in its annual declared assets.

"The total assets of BSP between FY 2020-21 and 2021-22 decreased by 5.74 percent from Rs 732.79 crore to Rs 690.71 crore," the report said.

The report also highlighted that the Trinamool Congress' assets increased dramatically between 2021-2022.

"The total assets of Trinamool Congress increased from Rs 182.001 crore during FY 2020–21 to Rs 458.10 crore, an increase of 151.70 percent," the report said.

The latest evaluation examined the assets and liabilities stated by the eight national parties—the BJP, Congress, NCP, BSP, CPI, CPI (M), AITC, and NPP—for fiscal years 2020–21 and 2021–22.

The report also stated that the assets of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also grew in FY 2021–22 to Rs 74.54 crore as compared to Rs 30.93 crore. Whereas the CPI's assets increased from Rs 14.05 crore in FY 2020–21 to Rs 15.72 crore in FY 2021–22.

"The assets of the CPI-M increased from Rs 654.79 crore in FY 2020–21 to Rs 735.77 crore in FY 2021–22," the report highlighted.

The report analyzed the liabilities of the eight national parties, concluding that the total liabilities declared by the parties for FY 2020–21 were Rs 103.55 crore, with Congress declaring the greatest liabilities of Rs 71.58 crore, followed by CPI (M) with Rs 16.109 crore.

It further stated that the Congress has revealed the largest liabilities of Rs 41.95 crore for FY 2021-22, followed by the CPI(M)'s Rs 12.21 crore and the BJP's Rs 5.17 crore.

It further stated that during fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22, five parties recorded a decrease in liabilities: the Congress (decrease of Rs 29.63 crore), the BJP (decrease of Rs 6.035 crore), the CPI(M) (decrease of Rs 3.899 crore), the AITC (decrease of Rs 1.30 crore), and the NCP (down of Rs 1 lakh liabilities).

According to the report, the CPI declared Rs 6.28 lakh in both years, whereas the BSP and NPP declared zero amounts as liabilities for fiscal years 2020–21 and 2021–22.

The report also looked at the capital declared by national parties for fiscal years 2020–21 and 2021–22, concluding that the total capital or reserve fund set aside by national parties during FY 2020–21 was Rs 7,194.064 crore and Rs 8,766.494 crore for FY 2021–22, after adjusting for liabilities for the respective years, from the parties' total assets.

It said that the BJP has declared the highest capital for FY 2021-22, with Rs 6,041.64 crore, followed by Rs 763.73 crore from the Congress and Rs 723.56 crore from the CPI(M).

It further stated that the National People's Party has the least declared capital fund of Rs 1.825 crore for FY 2021-22, followed by the CPI with Rs 15.6752 crore.

In its conclusion, the report stated that the national parties failed to follow the ICAI principles, which require parties to provide information about the financial institutions, banks, or agencies from which loans were obtained. "The guidelines specify that the parties should state the "terms of repayment of term loans" on the basis of due date such as a year, 1-5 years or payable after 5 years," it said.

It further said that the details of fixed assets received as donations by the parties should be declared, such as the original cost of the item, any modifications or deductions, depreciation written off, cost of construction, and so on. The same should be said for fixed assets purchased by political parties; not all national parties have disclosed this information.

The report also stated that details of loans given by the parties in cash or kind should be specified, and if it constitutes more than 10% of total loans, the nature and amount of such loans should be revealed directly by the parties - not declared by all national parties.

It also stated that the ICAI guidelines on auditing political parties, which were also endorsed by the poll panel in order to improve transparency in political party finances, are only guidelines and have not been actively pursued by political parties as a mandatory procedure to disclose details of their income.