Generally Political parties in the country are exempted from tax on their income through section 13 A of IT Act 1961 but government has lost a revenue of Rs 1381 crores with this. According an RTI query, in last two years, 13 major political parties in the country are exempted from tax in which BJP and Congress occupy about 80 per cent.

Leading the race is Congress party and during 2012-13 and 2013-14, it had a tax- exempted income of Rs 743.76 crore whereas BJP in the same time span did for Rs 338.95 crore. Congress in 2012-13 had income worth Rs 318.08 crore whereas the amount rose to Rs 425.68 crore in 2013-24 while BJP had an income of just Rs 17.42 crore in 2012-13 and it was Rs 321.53 crore for 2013-14. BJP seems to have gathered more funds for the 2014 elections and some agencies reported that a hell what is invested on Narendra Modi's campaign through out the country.

The ruling party in Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi party stood third with Rs 164 crores tax exemption and CPI[M] had an income of Rs 92.90 crores. BSP  Rs 20.76 crores, CPI Rs 2.62 crore, JD[U] Rs 13 crore and RLD Rs 4.48 crore had tax-exempted income for the year 2013-14.

(AW: Vamshi)