Six unrecognised Gujarat parties earned ₹1,700 crore, fielded just 15 candidates
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Six unrecognised Gujarat parties earned ₹1,700 crore, fielded just 15 candidates")
Representational Image Photograph: (AFP)
Six Gujarat-based unrecognised parties earned ₹1,700 crore in 2023-24, more than five national parties that earned ₹1,480 crore combined.
Six Gujarat-based political parties have earned around ₹1,700 crore in the financial year 2023-24, which is more than the combined financial income of five national parties the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the National People’s Party at around ₹1,480 crore, excluding BJP.
These six registered unrecognised political parties fielded only 15 candidates collectively in the 2024 General Assembly elections, compared to the five national parties excluding BJP, which fielded 893 candidates. Four of these registered unrecognised parties are based in one single area, Naroda, Gujarat.
The BBC News investigative report published on August 4, 2026, drawing upon the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) and official financial filings from the Election Commission of India (ECI), identified these parties as the Aam Janmat Party, Bharatiya National Janata Dal, Garib Kalyan Party, New India United Party, Satyawadi Rakshak Party and the Swatantrata Abhivyakti Party.
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The 2025 ADR report has claimed that all of them have a 223 per cent hike in income during the 2022–23 financial year. They had a cumulative income of ₹2,316 crore in the years between 2019 and 2024.
The party which received the highest donation is the Aam Janmat Party, with ₹ 620 crore in donations in the fiscal year 2023-24 is more than double that of the Indian National Congress at ₹ 281 crore. A jump of roughly 187 per cent from ₹216 crore it had received in the previous financial year. The party surprisingly fielded only one candidate in the General Assembly Election in 2024.
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The party's Facebook page lists Anamika Paswan, currently a state vice president for the BJP in Bihar, as its national president. It was established with Anamika Paswan as its President in Patan in 2020. However, Paswan informed the BBC that she resigned from the party in 2022 when it shifted to Gujarat.
The Satyawadi Rakshak Party, based in Gujarat’s Anand, secured around ₹330 crore in donations; Swatantrata Abhivyakti Party secured around ₹219 crore; New India United Party secured around ₹200 crore; Bharatiya National Janta Dal around ₹191 crore; and Gareeb Kalyan Party around ₹138 crore. The BBC reported that most of these parties have their offices shut and their leaders unwilling to speak.
The story builds on the back of the ADR report published on July 18, 2025. The report flagged that 73 per cent of the nearly 2,800 registered unrecognised political parties have not disclosed their financial records. According to the report, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of registered unrecognised political parties with 744, followed by Delhi with 240 and Tamil Nadu with 230. The most recognised of these parties is the National Citizen’s Party of India, which housed 20 rebel MPs from the Trinamool Congress following the 2026 West Bengal Assembly Election.
