Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the opposition parties of "spreading lies" over the electoral bonds scheme, which has been struck down by the Supreme Court, and said "everyone will regret it when there is an honest reflection".
In an interview with ANI, PM Modi said the electoral bonds scheme was aimed at curbing black money in elections and said the opposition wants to run away after making allegations.
In his first detailed reaction to the electoral bonds scheme, PM Modi, who has been on a hectic campaign for the Lok Sabha polls, said the scheme should also be viewed as a "success story" as it has allowed the trail to show who had made contributions to political parties through the scheme. He also said there is a lot scope for improvement in the scheme.
Modi said there was debate in Parliament on the electoral bonds scheme when the relevant bill was passed and some of those who are now commenting on it had supported it.
The PM said that of the 3,000 companies that gave donations through the scheme, 26 faced action by probe agencies such as ED. He said of these 26 companies, there were 16 who took electoral bonds when they faced action.
"Of these (16 companies) 37 per cent of the amount went to BJP and 63 per cent to opposition parties opposed to BJP."
The Supreme Court in February this year struck down the electoral bonds scheme and said it was unconstitutional.
INDIA Bloc parties have been targeting the BJP-led government over the electoral bonds scheme in their election campaign.
In its decision, the Supreme Court asked the SBI to stop issuing electoral bonds.
In compliance with a directive from the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India (ECI) uploaded data on electoral bonds on its official website. The data was provided by the State Bank of India (SBI) on the directions of the apex court.