Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday contributed Rs 2000 to BJP to strengthen the efforts of building a ‘Viksit Bharat’ and appealed to everyone to donate and help the efforts of his party in nation-building.

“I am happy to contribute to @BJP4India and strengthen our efforts to build a Viksit Bharat. I also urge everyone to be a part of #DonationForNationBuilding through the NaMoApp,” the PM wrote on X.

The call to donate money comes after the Supreme Court last month struck down the Electoral Bonds scheme as unconstitutional. While the Opposition parties hailed the Apex court decision, the ruling BJP said that the scheme was brought in for transparency in electoral funding.

The CJI while reading out his judgement said that the Supreme Court holds that anonymous electoral bonds are violative of Right to Information and Article 19(1)(a).

The PM’s donation to the BJP fund came a day after the BJP released the first list of party candidates for the Lok Sabha elections to be held in April-May. The first list contains the names of BJP candidates for 195 seats. PM Modi will again contest from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah have been named as BJP candidates for Lucknow and Gandhinagar seats. The party has denied tickets to many ”non-performing” MPs and brought in several new faces in the electoral fray. The party has asked 34 central ministers and state ministers to contest the Lok Sabha elections. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has been fielded from Vidisha in the state.

The BJP’s election committee is expected to meet shortly to finalise candidates for other seats. The party is also in talks with its allies in the NDA for seat sharing in certain states. The BJP has set a target of winning 370 seats on its own and 400 seats along with its allies in the NDA.

The Election Commission, meanwhile, is expected to announce the poll schedule any time soon. Ahead of the poll announcement, PM Modi has been undertaking whirlwind tours of different states, announcing development schemes.