BJP's assets rose 22% in 2017-18; INC, NCP only parties to report fall: ADR

The total assets of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2017-18 registered a rise of 22 per cent compared to previous financial year's asset declaration of Rs 1,213 crore to Rs 1,483.35 crore, election watchdog Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has said.

An ADR report said the BJP was among the seven national parties whose assets, as declared by them during 2017-18, was 6 per cent more than their declaration in 2016-17.

The total assets declared by the seven parties -- BJP, Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Trinamool Congress (TMC)-- in 2017-18 was Rs 3,456.65 crore, up from Rs 3,260.81 crore in 2016-17.

"During 2016-17, the declared assets of the BJP totaled Rs 1,213.13 crore and increased by 22.27 per cent to Rs 1,483.35 crore during 2017-18," the report said.

As per the ADR report, the Congress and the NCP were the only two national parties that have shown a decrease in their annual declared assets.

The total assets of the Congress between 2016-17 and 2017-18 decreased by 15.26 per cent (from Rs 854.75 crore to Rs 724.35 crore) while those of the NCP fell by 16.39 per cent (from Rs 11.41 crore to Rs 9.54 crore) during the corresponding period.

However, the total assets of the TMC increased by 10.86 per cent, from Rs 26.25 crore during 2016-17 to Rs 29.10 crore in 2017-18.

The assets of the BSP also showed an increase from Rs 680.63 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 716.72 crore in 2017-18, while the assets of the CPI-M were Rs 463.76 crore in 2016-17 and it went up to Rs 482.1 crore in 2017-18.

The assets of the CPI also rose from Rs 10.88 crore in 2016-2017 to Rs 11.49 crore in 2017-18.

The assets include fixed assets, loans and advances, deposits made and investments, the report said.

According to the ADR report, the total liabilities for 2016-17 declared by these parties, however, amounted to Rs 514.99 crore (an average of Rs 73.57 crore per party), which decreased by 27.26 per cent to Rs 374.61 crore in 2017-18.

"For 2016-17, the Congress declared the highest liabilities of Rs 461.73 crore followed by the BJP with Rs 20.03 crore. And for 2017-18, highest liabilities of Rs 324.2 crore were declared by the Congress followed by the BJP with Rs 21.38 crore and the TMC with Rs 10.65 crore."

Four political parties declared a decrease in liabilities between 2016-17 and 2017-18 -- Congress of  s 137.53 crore, CPI-M of Rs 3.02 crore, NCP of Rs 1.34 crore and TMC of Rs 55 lakh -- while BJP, CPI and BSP have declared an increase in liabilities during 2017-18.