<p>Nirmala Sitharaman, the minister of finance, rejected the notion that there was any link between the financing of the governing party’s elections and the actions of investigative agencies, such enforcement directorate (ED) raids, saying that they were only conjectures.</p>
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<p>Speaking at a Delhi event, Sitharaman questioned presumptions that the ED started contact by mentioning the possibility that businesses donated money and were then contacted by the agency. She further questioned if the money was provided to the BJP alone or whether it was shared with other regional parties.</p>
<p>The minister’s statements came after the Election Commission disclosed a list of political parties’ fundraising totals and subscribers to electoral bonds.The list was made public in response to a Supreme Court order and was released by the electoral bond issuer, SBI.</p>
<p>FM said that the Supreme Court’s ruling declaring a political finance system “unconstitutional” was a step forward from earlier practices. She emphasized the need of establishing a more transparent system.</p>
<p>We need to make an attempt to take this lesson to heart. In order to ensure openness, we must incorporate lessons learned from this experience wherever possible. Furthermore, transparency must improve with time, surpassing the shortcomings of previous systems, the minister said.</p>
<p>Significantly, the government’s electoral bonds program, which allowed for anonymous political finance, was declared “unconstitutional” by the Supreme Court on February 15, forcing their exposure. In an effort to improve openness in political fundraising, electoral bonds were introduced on January 2, 2018, and they were intended to serve as an alternative to cash contributions to political parties.</p>
FM Nirmala Sitharaman denies any connection between election donations and ED searches
