The government does not want the political parties to be brought under the Right to Information Act. On a petition filed by an NGO, the government's counsel has told the Supreme Court that political parties are not "public authorities" as they are not set up under the Constitution or any law enacted by Parliament.

"If political parties come under the RTI, it will affect their internal functioning. Their rivals will file RTI applications with malicious intent," the government told in the apex court.

The petition had also asked the court to ask all political parties to declare all donations including those below Rs 20,000.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioner, argued that parties are virtually funded by the state as they are exempted from filing income tax returns and hence must come under the RTI Act.