Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to call an all-party meeting to discuss the possibility of public funding of elections and the need for electoral reforms.

Referring to reports that over Rs 60,000 crore was spent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which brought “disrepute” to the country, Mamata explained why she wrote the letter.

“I urge you to call an all-party meeting with the single agenda of public funding of elections in India, with the objective of rooting out what has been called the mother of all corruption,” the Bengal chief minister wrote.

Mamata mentioned that there was an urgent need for electoral reforms through government funding of polls, which had to be conducted in a “free, fair and transparent” manner.

Public funding of elections means the government will bear the election-related expenses of all political parties.

Citing examples of countries like Germany, France, the UK, Japan, Italy, Canada and Australia, where political parties receive direct public funding for elections, Mamata said such a system should be introduced in India. She wrote she apprehended that the expenditure could cross Rs 1 lakh crore in the next general election.

“It is shocking to learn from Dr. N. Bhaskara Rao, chairperson, Centre for Media Studies, that mother of all corruption lies in the spiralling election expenditure. If we are not able to address this, we can’t check corruption,” the chief minister wrote.

Sources in Trinamul said Mamata had been demanding public funding of elections since 1995 as she wanted the alleged use of black money in polls to stop.

The chief minister has also raised the issue of excessive spending in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

“The poll expenditure of the Parliamentary Election in 2019 had crossed all limits, reaching a minimum of Rs 60,000 crore ($8.65 billion) and maximum expenditure remains unknown and could be much higher…. May I point out that combined expenditure in the United States of America for Presidential and Congressional Elections in 2016 was $6.5 billion,” Mamata wrote.

The sources said the chief minister’s letter was a follow-up to what she had demanded during the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. She had repeatedly urged the Election Commission to seek details on the money spent on the campaign rallies of the Prime Minister.

“She had demanded that the expenditure on the rallies addressed by the Prime Minister be properly scrutinised…. Now, she has taken the issue to the next level to ensure that black money is not used during elections,” said a Trinamul insider.

Another Trinamul leader said Mamata’s demand for public funding of elections should also be seen in the context of the BJP bagging more than 90 per cent of the money received in the form of poll bonds, which provides anonymity to the donors.

“If the situation does not change, the BJP will be the only party that will be able to spend lavishly in the next Lok Sabha polls as all other parties will face a severe crisis of funds,” said a leader close to Mamata.

Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh attributed motives to Mamata’s demand.

“Trinamul is facing a dearth of funds as nobody is willing to fund the party. While (Saradha chairman) Sudipto Sen is in jail and cut money is not reaching Kalighat, they are demanding state-funded elections,” he said.

He added that the BJP too supported the public funding of elections and the clubbing of polls.