THE WEALTH OF PARTIES

An analysis this month of political party finances for 2016-17 showed, perhaps obviously, that the BJP is the country’s dominant party, a financial as well as electoral behemoth. While the Congress’s funds dropped in the financial year in question, the BJP’s rose by hundreds of crores. This was reflected in campaign spending in which the BJP dwarfed the Congress total for the year and won a handful of state polls to broaden and tighten its grip over the country. The overwhelming majority of the BJP’s earnings come from voluntary donations. And an overwhelming majority of those donations are from unknown sources. Is it possible, then, as some critics suggest, that a substantial portion of the black money supposedly targeted by demonetisation could have gone into donations to the BJP?

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NATIONAL PARTIES DECLARED A TOTAL INCOME OF Rs 1,559.2 CRORE IN FY17, AND A TOTAL EXPENDITURE OF Rs 1,228.3 CRORE

`321.6 CRORE

SPENT BY THE CONGRESS. OR Rs 96.3 CRORE MORE THAN IT EARNED IN FY17

`710.1 CRORE

SPENT BY THE BJP IN FY2017. 57.8% OF THE TOTAL SPENT BY ALL NATIONAL PARTIES. RS 606.6 CRORE IN “ELECTION/ GENERAL PROPAGANDA”

5

NUMBER OF STATE ELECTIONS WON BY BJP IN THIS PERIOD

96.4%

OF THE BJP’S INCOME, OR Rs 997.1 CRORE IN “VOLUNTARY DONATIONS”, SO ANONYMOUS SOURCES. COMPARED TO RS 50.6 CRORE FOR THE CONGRESS

`1,034.27 CRORE

BJP’S DECLARED INCOME FOR FY2017, OR 66.3% OF THE TOTAL FOR ALL NATIONAL PARTIES. COMPARED TO THE CONGRESS’S Rs 225.4 CRORE, 14.5% OF THE TOTAL

31%

OF EARNINGS IN FY17 UNSPENT BY THE BJP. OR Rs 324.2 CRORE. SO THE BJP SAVED MORE MONEY THAN THE CONGRESS SPENT

`463.4 CRORE

ADDITIONAL INCOME FOR BJP IN FY17, A 81% RISE FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR, COMPARED TO A 14% DECREASE IN EARNINGS FOR THE CONGRESS IN THE SAME PERIOD

138

DAYS LATE THAT THE CONGRESS TURNED IN ITS AUDITED REPORT, MARCH 19, 2018, INSTEAD OF OCTOBER 30, 2017. BJP WAS 99 DAYS LATE