NEW DELHI: Congress MP Manish Tewari raised concerns in the Lok Sabha over the growing trend of cash transfer schemes being used ahead of elections and demanded a constitutional amendment to restrict such practices for governments with high debt burdens.

Speaking in the lower house on Tuesday, Tewari said that if the debt-to-GDP ratio of any state or the central government crosses 20 per cent, they should not be allowed to carry out cash transfers, stating that such practices put an unsustainable burden on the national exchequer and risk pushing the country into a financial crisis.

“This growing trend of distributing money, that as elections approach the government starts transferring cash directly into people’s accounts, what kind of democracy is this?” he said.

“Is this what democracy

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