New Delhi, Feb 15:
In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court Thursday struck down the electoral bonds scheme, calling it “unconstitutional”. Stating that information about funding to political parties is essential for electoral choices, the apex court held that the scheme violates the right to information under Section 19(1)(a).
The Supreme Court directed the State Bank of India (SBI) not to issue any more of these bonds and to submit details of all such bonds purchased since the apex court’s interim order of April 12, 2019 to Election Commission. The five-judge Constitutional bench ruled that changes in law permitting unlimited funding to political parties is arbitrary.
The SC further stated that the Centre’s justification of tackling black money issue through electoral bonds is not justified.
Electoral bonds are interest-free bearer instruments that are essentially used to donate money anonymously to political parties. The scheme was first announced in the 2017 Union Budget speech when Late Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister.
The constitutional bench, comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, reserved its verdict on the matter on November 2 last year.
The primary concern raised by transparency activists is that voters can no longer know which individual, company, or organisation has funded which party and to what extent. Earlier parties had to disclose details of all donors who have contributed more than Rs 20,000. The Centre, however, has pitched bonds as an alternative to cash donations and as a way to increase transparency and accountability in political funding.
Besides challenging the constitutionality of the electoral bonds scheme, the petitioners have asked the court to declare all political parties as public offices to bring them under the ambit of the Right to Information Act and compel political parties to disclose their income and expenditure.
A five-judge bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, and Justices Sanjeev Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra had reserved its judgment in the matter on November 2 last year.
