New Delhi: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is the richest among all national parties, having clocked the highest income of Rs 970.43 crore in 2014-15, the year it came to power.
The Congress is the only national party not to have submitted its audit report for 2014-15 fiscal to the Election Commission, said the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Tuesday.
Notably, as per the Election Commission's letter dated November 19, 2014, it is mandatory for all political parties to submit the details of their audit reports. The due date for submission of the annual audited accounts for the parties was November 30, 2015.
Besides BJP, only three other national parties submitted the audit reports on time. These are Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI), and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
The BJP, Congress, CPI-M, CPI, BSP and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are the six national parties in the country.
The report said that the income of the national parties increased from Rs 920.44 crore during the 2013-14 fiscal to Rs 1,275.78 crore in 2014-15, an increase of 39 percent.
Political parties earn money through donations, sale of coupons and contributions etc.
The BJP recorded the highest income of Rs 970.43 crore among the national parties during 2014-15, accounting for 76.06 percent of their total income.
Between 2013-14 and 2014-15, the BJP's income increased by 44 percent or Rs 296.62 crore.
The BSP's income increased by 67.31 percent or Rs 45.04 crore.
The CPI declared the least income of Rs 1.84 crore, a mere 0.14 percent of the total income of the six national parties, during 2014-15.
The ADR report said among the national parties, the CPI is the only party whose income decreased by 24.28 percent or around Rs 59 lakh.
The report also shows that almost half of the total income of the political parties came from unknown sources.
As per the ADR report, income accruing from unmentioned sources during 2014-15 is Rs 685.36 crore, which is 54 percent of the total income of the political parties.
(With IANS inputs)
