Samajwadi Party richest among regional parties: Report

Samajwadi Party is the richest regional party in the country with a total of Rs 583.29 crore assets during FY18, according to a report by the Associate for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

With the elections to kickstart in October 21, ADR, the election watch NGO, released a report on the richest regional parties in the country which stated that Samajwadi Party tops the list. It is followed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) with assets worth Rs 191.64 crore and Rs 189.54 crore, respectively.

Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) declared highest assets during FY17 that totalled Rs 571.12 crore. Thus, the party's assets have increased by 2.13 per cent to Rs 583.29 crore in FY18. The party declared the highest assets under the fixed deposits at Rs 482.23 crore in 2018-19.

MK Stalin's DMK declared total assets of Rs 183.36 crore in 2016-17, which saw a 4.5 per cent increase in the next financial year to Rs 191.64 crore. A majority of these assets were from investments worth Rs 171.484 crore in 2017-18 and 162.07 crore in 2016-17. On the other hand, the party declared the highest liabilities worth Rs 8.05 crore. However, Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Dasam Party topped the list of annual liabilities among the regional parties.

AIADMK, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu led by Edappadi K Palaniswami emerged as the third richest regional party with a total asset worth Rs 187.72 crore in 2016-17. The party's assets increased by 1 per cent in 2017-18 to Rs 189.54 crore.

According to the report, the Janata Dal-United (JD(U)) reported the least assets worth Rs 13.78 crore among regional parties in the country in 2017-18. However, Shiv Sena (SHS) became the only party among the top 10 regional parties to show a decline in their declared annual assets from Rs 52.56 crore to Rs 51.92 crore between 2016-17 and 2017-18.

The assets were declared under six major heads: fixed assets, loans and advances, FDR, TDS, investments and other assets. Overall, the regional parties declared maximum assets under fixed deposits that stood at Rs 809.52 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 859.89 crore in 2017-18.