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Electoral bonds scheme struck down: ADR, one of 4 petitioners, welcomes Supreme Court verdict
Electoral bond scheme was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in 2018. It was ruled “unconstitutional” by the Supreme Court on Thursday.
New Delhi: The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict striking down the electoral bonds scheme. ADR is among the four petitioners who had challenged the scheme along with Congress leader Jaya Thakur, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Common Cause.
The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the electoral bonds scheme and directed the State Bank of India to stop issuing them immediately and submit all details to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by March 6 for making it public within a week.
“The electoral system before the introduction of the electoral bonds was not the best. It had been made worse by the electoral bonds….there are many things wrong with the electoral system which still have to be worked upon,” ADR co-founder Jagdeep S Chhokar said.
Also Read: Electoral bonds scheme ‘unconstitutional’: Supreme Court strikes down poll funding system
“…The electoral funding system had been made more opaque than ever and anonymous contributions by companies in whatever amount even by loss-making companies were permitted, making the electoral processes entirely controlled by big money,” he added.
The electoral bond system was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in 2018. Under the scheme, these bonds must be bought from the State Bank of India (SBI) but can be donated to parties anonymously. While donors using electoral bonds are technically anonymous, however, the SBI is publicly owned, meaning the ruling party has access to its data.
Responding to a question of whether the verdict could be seen as a setback to the BJP, which has been the largest beneficiary of the system, Chhokar said that although it was introduced by the BJP government and they benefited from it a lot, the scheme was a detriment to the entire political class.
He said that only the CPM went to court against this scheme so it can be assumed that other parties were not upset, rather they were reasonably okay with it.
Since the electoral bond scheme was launched in 2018, 674,250 electoral bonds worth ₹28,531.5 crore have been printed by the India Security Press, Nashik, between 2019 and 2022, HT had reported.
BJP received most funding under electoral bond scheme
According to the data from the election commission, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received more than half of all electoral bonds bought between 2018 and 2022. According to disclosures by political parties, the BJP received Rs.5,270 crore out of a total of Rs.9,208 crore– 57 per cent of total electoral bonds sold.
A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said that all political parties are relevant units in the electoral process and that information about the funding of political parties is essential for electoral choices. As per the ruling, the SBI shall submit details of electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019.
In April 2019, the apex court declined to stay the electoral bonds scheme and made it clear that it would accord an in-depth hearing on the pleas as the Centre and the election commission had raised “weighty issues” that had “tremendous bearing on the sanctity of the electoral process in the country”.
