But as in the past, an analysis of income tax returns of the parties showed that "unknown sources" of income — where the source of donations under Rs 20,000 was not disclosed — accounted for a majority of contributions as BJP and Congress relied on coupon sales, relief fund and contributions from meetings and morchas.

Of the 19% of the fund raising for BJP from known sources — where details of the donors have been disclosed to the Election Commission — donations of over Rs 20,000 added up to around Rs 77 crore (13% of the total income).

In contrast, Congress earned over one-fifth of its income in 2015-16 (Rs 55 crore) through sale of assets, membership fee, interest on bank deposits and sale of publications.

A little over Rs 20 crore, which was less than 8% of its total income, was from donations of over Rs 20,000, where names have been disclosed.

Interest income is one aspect where Congress beats the BJP on the income front, having earned close to Rs 45 crore during 2015-16, compared to a little under Rs 20 crore for BJP.