Guwahati, Feb. 10: Does power equal wealth? If you go by the earnings of Indian political parties, the answer to that question seems to be a resounding yes!

A report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch, two umbrella bodies that represent about 1,200 NGOs, has revealed that the income of the Congress and the BJP, the two major political parties of the country, has grown by four and five times respectively between 2004-2005 and 2013-2014. The bodies prepared the report by analysing the income tax returns submitted by the political parties.

It shows that the BJP's income has grown from Rs 104.12 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 673.81 crore in 2013-14 while the Congress' income had gone up from Rs 124.93 crore to Rs 598.08 crore during the same period (see chart).

Releasing the report here today, the two organisations expressed serious doubts over the sources of these funds. "There is huge jump in the income and expenditure of political parties. But since there is no standard format to list the sources of income, most parties list them as donations, voluntary contributions and contributions by members to the party fund. But there is serious doubt about the sources of income shown. The All India Trinamool Congress lists Rs 646.9 lakh of its income (16.18 per cent of its total income) from sale of paintings. But they don't mention when and where the paintings were sold. In the absence of rules to disclose their source of funds, there is every possibility of criminal motif in the process," the? coordinator of Assam Election Watch, Tasadduk Ariful Hussain, said.

According to the report, four regional parties in the Northeast - the National People's Party, Hill State People's Democratic Party, People's Democratic Alliance and United Democratic Party - have not filed income tax returns for 2010-11 and 2011-12. "Since the IT returns filed by the major political parties have shown their income going up significantly and their sources are not properly disclosed, there is the possibility of the use of money power to influence the voters in Assam Assembly elections too," Hussain said.

National Election Watch has said it is planning to move the Supreme Court to bring the six major political parties under the ambit of the RTI Act for detailed disclosure of their sources of income. "The Chief Information Commission in 2013 had asked six parties - the Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI, CPM and BSP to appoint public information officers under the RTI Act but they have not implemented it," Hussain added.