National parties declare assets worth Rs 8,829 cr in 2021-22: ADR

The total assets declared by eight national parties in 2021-22 was Rs 8,829.16 crore, up from Rs 7,297.62 crore during 2020-21, poll rights body ADR said in its report.

The Association for Democratic Reforms, an electoral reform advocacy group, in its report analysed the assets and liabilities declared by the BJP, INC, NCP, BSP, CPI, CPI(M), AITC and NPEP the eight national parties for FY 2020-21 and 2021-22.

In financial year 2020-21, the BJP declared assets worth Rs 4,990 crore, up by 21.17 per cent to Rs 6,046.81 crore in 2021-22.

According to the ADR, in 2020-21, the declared assets of Congress was Rs 691.11 crore, which shot up by 16.58 per cent to Rs 805.68 crore in 2021-22.

The BSP was the only national party to show a decrease in its annual declared assets, its report said.

The total assets of BSP between 2020-21 and 2021-22 decreased by 5.74 per cent from Rs 732.79 crore to Rs 690.71 crore.

The total assets of TMC increased from Rs 182.001 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 458.10 crore, an increase of 151.70 per cent, the ADR said.

The total liabilities for FY 2020-21 declared by the national parties was Rs 103.55 crore. The Congress declared liabilities of Rs 71.58 crore, the highest, followed by CPI(M) with Rs 16.109 crore, the ADR said.

For FY 2021-22, the Congress again was at top with liabilities of Rs 41.95 crore, followed by CPI (M) and BJP, which declared liabilities worth Rs 12.21 crore and Rs 5.17 crore.

Between 2020-21 and 2021-22, five parties declared a decrease in liabilities.

INC declared a decrease in its liabilities by Rs 29.63 crore, BJP by Rs 6.03 crore, CPI(M) by Rs 3.89 crore, AITC by Rs 1.30 crore, and NCP by Rs 1 lakh.

The total capital/reserve fund set aside by the national parties during FY 2020-21 was Rs 7,194 crore, and Rs 8,766 crore for FY 2021-22, after adjusting for liabilities, the ADR said.

For FY 2021-22, the ADR said the BJP declared the highest capital with Rs 6,041.64 crore.

The Congress and CPI(M) followed it with RS 763.73 crore and Rs 723.56 crore.

In FY 2021-22, the National People's Party declared having a fund of Rs 1.82 crore, the least, followed by CPI, which declared having Rs 15.67 crore in its coffers.

The ADR said national parties failed to adhere to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India guidelines that direct parties to declare details of the financial institutions, banks, or agencies from whom loans were taken.

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.

The reform body also said that details of loans given by the parties in cash or kind should be specified and if it constitutes more than 10 per cent of the total loans, nature and amount of such loans should be declared specifically by them - a detail none of the national parties made public.

The ICAI guidelines on auditing, which were also endorsed by the Election Commission of India, remain only on paper and are yet to be actively taken up by the political parties in disclosing details of their income, the ADR said.