NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court decision to scrap a controversial political funding system has pushed contributions to parties towards “black money”, or illegal funds, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in remarks broadcast on Monday.
India’s top court in February scrapped as unconstitutional a seven-year-old election funding system through instruments called “electoral bonds” that allowed individuals and companies to make unlimited and anonymous donations to political parties.
Corporate funding of political parties is a sensitive matter in India and, while there is no suggestion that the funds from the bonds scheme were improper, opposition parties allege that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used its powers to coerce funding.
In his most detailed defence of the scrapped system days before India begins voting in a general election, Modi denied the accusations and said companies had also donated to the opposition.He said the system was more transparent than previous ones, but added that there was room for policy improvement.
“In decision-making, we learn and improve. It is very possible to improve in this too. But today we have completely pushed the country towards black money,” Modi said in an interview to news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake.
Storm warnings for high winds, heavy rain and hail also were issued by the National Weather Service on Sunday
The Public and Commercial Services union said more than 300 members of staff would stop working early on Monday
Macron has been more strident on defence issues recently
His spokesperson said Harry would attend a service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on May 8 to celebrate the...
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia would never cede territories seized from Ukraine in exchange...
The transition council took power in a ceremony on Thursday, formalizing the resignation of former Prime Minster Ariel...