The Election Commission (EC), on Tuesday, summoned both Revenue secretary A B Pandey and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman P C Mody.

The move comes a day after the Finance Ministry wrote to EC justifying the raids and assuring that the action by the Income Tax Department was impartial and nondiscriminatory, irrespective of the political affiliation of individuals.

The EC had on Sunday instructed investigation and enforcement agencies under the Finance ministry to ensure raids during election time are neutral and non-discriminatory, and that the commission should be kept in the loop.

A controversy had erupted following the income tax raids conducted in the past several weeks to unearth use of unaccounted cash in the upcoming polls, with the Congress accusing the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) of targeting opposition leaders across the country.

Congress had alleged that the BJP-led government was using the enforcement agencies to change the optics before elections.

The I-T department has carried out searches at the premises of the aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel's Chartered Accountant SM Muin, and at the houses of CM Ramesh, the Telugu Desam Party MP and a close aide of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. Searches were also conducted at several places including Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Responding to the EC letter, the Revenue Department said, "We understand the words 'neutral', 'impartial' and 'non-discriminatory' means we must act as and when information is available against anyone, irrespective of political affiliation. This is precisely the practice that the department follows and will continue to do so."

The department also urged the EC to "take action at their end if they come across any specific information about the use of illicit money in the electoral process. It may also, if deemed fit, pass on the information confidentially to I-T Department for further action."

"Issues arising out of the advisory of the Election Commission of India dated 07.04.2019 regarding all enforcement actions being neutral, impartial and non-discriminatory and its implementation were discussed in detail," said an EC spokesperson after the meeting with both officials.