The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has refuted claims that it funded Rs 25 crore to left parties during the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year; saying that the “amount” stated in the media reports is concocted.

“Reports have appeared in a section of the media regarding the election funding and expenditure of the CPI (M). This is nothing but disinformation designed to discredit the Party. The “amount” stated in the media report as Party expenditure is concocted,” CPI (M) stated in its press release.

CPM, CPI and Kondu Nadu Democratic Party (KNDP), among other contested the Lok Sabha polls as DMK’s alliance partners in Tamil Nadu. In its declaration of election expenditure to the Election Commission last week, DMK recorded donations of Rs 40 crore — from its total election expenses of about Rs 79 crore — to alliance partners CPI, CPM and KNDP.

According to the press release, all the donations and funds received during the period of the Lok Sabha elections have been reflected in the statement of election accounts which is submitted to the Election Commission of India.

It also stated that all this can be verified when the statement of accounts will be put up on the official website of the Election Commission of India.

“Our Tamil Nadu unit accepted the money and it’s all in the public domain. It was from a friendly party for overall election activities,” S. Ramachandran Pillai, a politburo member of CPI(M), told a leading media portal.

“This is not the first time an alliance partner has given money to a party… It’s just that earlier the transactions happened in cash, so there was no record. Now everything happens via cheque,” said the source.