New Delhi, Feb. 22 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is examining how to proceed with investigating allegations pertaining to the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) funding of efforts aimed at boosting "voter turnout in India" people familiar with the development said, even as a war of words broke out between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on the issue.

To be sure, no formal probe has been initiated by the financial crimes probe agency in the matter yet. And to be sure, details of what was funded, and how, remain unclear.

Since it cannot unilaterally register a money laundering case in the absence of a predicate offence recorded anywhere in the country, ED is exploring if it should i...