BENGALURU: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman dismissed any connection between the activities of investigative agencies, such as enforcement directorate (ED) raids, and electoral funding for the ruling party, stating that these claims are mere assumptions.
Speaking at an event in Delhi, Sitharaman said the possibility that companies gave funds and were subsequently approached by the ED, challenging assumptions that the ED initiated the contact. She also raised the question of whether the funds were exclusively given to the BJP or potentially distributed among regional parties.
The minister’s remarks followed the Election Commission’s release of a list of electoral bond subscribers and funds raised by political parties.The list, issued by the SBI, the electoral bond issuer, was disclosed following a Supreme Court directive.
FM said a political funding system deemed ‘unconstitutional’ by the Supreme Court was an advancement over the previous methods. She emphasised the need for a more transparent system to be established.
“...It should be our effort to learn from this. If at all, whenever something comes, we have to introduce elements of lessons that we have taken from this to make sure there is transparency and that transparency will have to be progressively better than each earlier system,” the minister said.
The Supreme Court’s significant ruling on February 15 invalidated the government’s electoral bonds scheme, which permitted anonymous political funding, deeming it “unconstitutional” and mandating their disclosure. Introduced on January 2, 2018, electoral bonds were presented as a substitute for cash donations to political parties, aiming to enhance transparency in political funding.