BJP, Congress continue to default in submitting audited income reports to EC

New Delhi: For the third time in a row, Bhartiya Janata Party and Congress – the two largest national parties- have yet not submitted their audited reports to the Election Commission, more than three months after the due date for submission, a report from electoral watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.

The report added that the BJP and Congress have ‘consistently defaulted’ in submitting copies of their audit reports to the poll panel within the specified time limit.

The ADR analysis found that while BSP, CPM and Trinamool Congress submitted their reports on time, NCP submitted it 22 days late. Both BJP and Congress are 99 days behind schedule

The report further added that 5 out of 7 National Parties -- Bahujan Samaj Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India and All India Trinamool Congress -- have declared a total income of Rs 299.54 cr, collected from all over India.

Among these five, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) showed the highest income of Rs 173.58 crore for 2016-17.

Trinamool declared a total income of Rs 6 crore during this period but spent almost Rs 18 crore. The Nationalist Congress Party also incurred an excess expenditure of close to Rs 8 crore over its total income of Rs 17 crore during FY 2016-17.

Grant, donations and contributions of Rs 120.71 crore declared by the five National Parties forms 40.30 per cent of the total income of the parties during FY 2016-17.

The report added, “Declaration of Rs 66.06 crore under Membership Fees by the parties forms 22 per cent of the total income of the parties, while Bank Interest constitutes 17.87 per cent of the total income of the parties during FY 2016-17”.