India's Wealthiest Political Parties

Bangalore: Which is the wealthiest political party in India? Congress tops the list as per data collected by think-tanks Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch. Here is the list of the wealthiest parties as per records of the last seven years, between financial years 2004-05 and 2010-11.

Indian National Congress:

The Congress is the richest political party in the country. In the last seven years, between financial years 2004-05 and 2010-11, Congress' earning was recorded to be Rs 2,008 crore.

The Indian National Congress is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. After independence it became the nation's dominant political party, led by the Nehru-Gandhi family for the most part. The major challenges for party leadership have only recently formed. In the 2009 general elections, the Congress came out as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha, with 205 of its candidates getting elected to the 543-member house. As a result, it along with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was able to gain a majority and form the government.

Bharatiya Janata Party:

BJP is the second wealthiest party in India with earnings of Rs 994.76 crore. It is one of the two major political parties in the country. BJP is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament and in the various state assemblies. It was started by advocating Hindu nationalism and conservative social policies, self-reliance, free market capitalistic policy, foreign policy driven by a nationalist agenda, and strong national defense. The BJP headed the government along with a coalition of parties of the NDA from 1998 to 2004, and was the first non-Congress government to last the full term in office. Since then the party has been the principal opposition in the parliament.