This Article is From Oct 07, 2019

Samajwadi Party Richest Among Regional Political Outfits: Report

The Samajwadi Party declared the highest assets under the head of fixed deposits worth Rs 468.05 crore during financial year 2016-17

Samajwadi Party Richest Among Regional Political Outfits: Report

Akhilesh Yadav is the chief of Samajwadi Party (File)

New Delhi:

The Samajwadi Party is the richest party among regional political outfits, a report said.

The Samajwadi Party declared the highest assets under the head of fixed deposits worth Rs 468.05 crore during financial year 2016-17 which further jumped to Rs 482.23 crore a year later, according to a report on regional parties, published by poll watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United has witnessed a massive jump in assets in just one year - 298 per cent to be precise. But in terms of worth of assets, Akhilesh Yadav's party appears to be the richest regional party.

The JD-U wasn't alone, during Financial Year 2016-17 and 2017-18, the total assets of both Karnataka's Janata Dal-Secular and the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti rose by more than 100 per cent.

But then, there are other political parties as well which have suffered losses in fortune like Bihar's Lok Janshakti Party that witnessed a drop of 34.8 per cent of its assets in just one year. Likewise, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha suffered a drop of 15 per cent while, Haryana's Indian National Lok Dal witnessed a drop of 5.9 per cent in its assets worth.

As for liabilities, Tamil Nadu's DMK declared highest liabilities during FY 2016-17, amounting to Rs 7.877 crore under "borrowings". During FY 2017-18, the Telugu Desam Party declared the highest liabilities under "borrowings" amounting to Rs 22.56 crore.

Political parties like the Lok Janshakti Party, the Hill State People's Democratic Party (Meghalaya), the Zoram Nationalist Party (Mizoram), the Peoples Party of Arunachal, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, the Mizoram People's Conference, and the Mizo National Front have shown zero liability.

In terms of reserve funds, the JD-S' fortune increased by a whopping 1281.97 per cent from Rs 0.61 crore in FY 2016-17 to Rs 8.43 crore in FY 2017-18, while that of the JD-U increased by 357.64 per cent. In case of the Shiromani Akali Dal, the reserve funds decreased by 339.62 per cent between the financial years 2016-17 and 2017-18.

"Regional parties failed to adhere to the ICAI 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," the ADR said.

.