In its reply to an Income Tax Department notice, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has said that they raised huge sums of money by distributing coupons across Maharashtra, sources have told NDTV. The party has also told the department that the coupons were of different denominations, sources added.The notice had been sent to the party around the time voting in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls ended across the country. The party, headed by Sharad Pawar, had been asked to explain huge cash deposits in a bank in Maharashtra.The Income Tax department had asked the party to account for more than Rs 35 crores that were placed in a state-run bank between April 2, 2013 and April 9 of this year. The notice was sent to it on April 23, a day before Mumbai voted.The NCP, which co-governs Maharashtra with the Congress, had, through a chartered accountancy firm, asked for some time to prepare its response.Sources have also told NDTV that the I-T department isn't satisfied with the reply. According to sources the department has raised questions about the coupon system. The party has also been asked to furnish details of coupon publisher. The department has given a set of questions that the party needs to answer.

Earlier, the NCP had asked time till June 20 to reply to the notice. The I-T department refused and gave only one week's time for the party to reply.