In what comes as a startling revelation amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, regional parties in Uttar Pradesh mainly the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have cash deposits much more than what the national parties have, revealed an election commission reports on Monday.


As per official EC records, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has the biggest bank balance among all parties. As per its expenditure report submitted to the Election Commission, the party has over Rs 650 crores stacked in eight accounts in banks in the national capital region.

The party also has Rs 95.54 lakh as cash in hand. The Samajwadi comes in second on the list with Rs 471 crore in its bank accounts. The Akhilesh Yadav-led party saw a minor slight dip in its cash deposits after the recent Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana, said a report in a leading daily.

Congress is on the third spot with Rs 196 crore as bank balance. However, the party hasn’t updated the details since its victory in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. Telugu Desam Party comes next with a cash deposit of Rs 107 crore while BJP comes fifth with a bank balance of Rs 82 crore.

According to an analysis of income tax returns of these parties by Association for Democratic Reforms, BJP showed the highest income with contributions worth Rs 1,034 crore for 2016-17 and Rs 1,027 crore in 2017-18.

During the same period, BSP’s income fell drastically from Rs 174 crore to Rs 52 crore. Congress’s income for 2016-2017 is shown as Rs 225 crore. It has not declared its income in the following financial years to the EC.