Until recently, little was known about the income and expenditure of India's national parties but some information was made public thanks to the rules of the Election Commission.
To get a comprehensive idea of the cost and earnings of leading, UTVi decided to unearth the finances of the political organisations that run our country. The idea was to discover the country's richest political parties.
UTVi's Deputy Political Editor Amritanshu Rai filed an application with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the Right to Information Act. The result of this effort is UTVi's Special: India's Richest Political Parties.
The grand old party of India. Indian National Congress. A party known for its history and dynasty. From Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi, and, now, Sonia Gandhi.
The Nehru-Gandhi family-ruled party has ruled the country for nearly 50 of the last 61 years. The party now runs a political coalition that is governing a trillion dollar economy.
In fact, it's in the last five years that the economy has hit the trillion dollar figure. The stock markets soared as well. Not surprisingly, then, the Congress Party has seen a rise in its income and assets too.
While the rise appears impressive in percentage terms, the actual figures appear timid for a organization that has 153 MPs in Lok Sabha and 71 in Rajya Sabha.
According to returns filed with the Income Tax department, the party had an income of Rs 75 crore in 2002-2003. In 2003-04, it dipped to Rs 61.4 crore. In 2004-05, there was a sharp increase to Rs 153 crore. This was also the year the Congress came to power at the centre leading the UPA coalition. The party's income grew to Rs 222 crore in 2005-06. By 2006-07, the figure had fallen to Rs 124 crore but still an increase of 165% over 2002-03.
The increase in the value of its declared assets has been much sharper. Its assets increased from Rs 53.3 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 228 crore in 2003-04. In 2004-05, it went up to Rs 135.8 crore, which increased to Rs 167.3 crore in 2005-06. In 2006-07, the total assets were Rs 228 crore. An increase of 427% from 2002-2003.
Most of the current assets of Congress are in financial instruments.
These include:
Fixed deposits: Rs 146.6 crore.
Cash and bank balance: Rs 27 crore.
Sundry advances: Rs 37 crore.
UTVi also has the list of the top contributors to its income. These are for the year 2004 based on the filing with the Election commission. This was done just before the last general elections.
Among the leading contributors are:
Charu Trading Company, Century Bazaar, Worli, Mumbai: Rs 1 crore.
Jindal Steel and Power: Rs 50 lakh.
So, how does Congress spend the crores it earns?
Take a look. These figures are for 2006-07.
It spent Rs 20 crore for various elections. Another Rs 10 crore was spent on travelling and lodging.Sundry meetings cost Rs 7 crore. Publicity and advertising spend was Rs 2 crore. Rs 47 lakh was spent on rallies and demonstrations.
After other expenses such as printing, power and administrative costs, the
party had a balance of Rs 55 crore.
Congress says these are legitimate earnings and expenditure of the party.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said: "Well, you must remember that Congress is the oldest institution in the country. It predates the so called financial institutions and academic institutions. We are talking about an 183 year old institution. Thus, it is taking care of its financial requirement. How it comes - well, we have people who believe in our policies, and those who believe in the party donate to us. That's how we fund ourselves..."
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