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Electoral bond verdict will reinforce power of votes over notes: Jairam Ramesh
Electoral bonds details must be submitted to the Election Commission by March 6 , SBI told by Supreme Court
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the Supreme Court’s judgment striking down the electoral bond scheme of anonymous political funding will “reinforce the power of votes over notes” as Opposition parties welcomed the unanimous verdict of a five-judge constitution bench.
The court directed the State Bank of India to stop issuing the bonds immediately and submit all details to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by March 6 to make them public within a week.
“The Supreme Court has held the much-touted Electoral Bonds scheme of the [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi Sarkar [government] as violative of both laws passed by Parliament as well as the Constitution of India. The long-awaited verdict is hugely welcome and will reinforce the power of votes over notes,” said Ramesh.
He linked the development with Congress’s campaign for “Nyay” or justice and said the Modi government has been inflicting “ANYAY [injustice] upon ANYAY on the Annadatas [farmers] while privileging the Chandadatas [donors]”. Ramesh hoped that the Supreme Court would take note that the Election Commission has been refusing to even meet political parties on the issue of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail. “If everything is transparent in the voting process, then why this obstinacy?”
Sitaram Yechury, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) general secretary, said the unanimous verdict of the Supreme Court upheld their contention. “Congratulations to our Counsel Shadan Farasat and others who effectively argued the case.” CPI(M) was among the petitioners against the scheme.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aditya Thackeray hoped that transparency would be ensured and every word of the order would be followed. “An ‘unconstitutional’ scheme has been struck down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court! Next, Maharashtra hopes, the unconstitutional regime is struck down! Wholeheartedly welcome the decision today to strike down the opaque scheme of Electoral Bonds.”
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) lawmaker Priyanka Chaturvedi said all the corporate houses that indulged this government, became a party to this corruption of electoral practises will be worried now. “After all: By allowing to retain the encashed #ElectoralBonds, the @BJP4India which has received 90% of all anonymous donations is unaffected. While this is a welcome verdict, it doesn’t level the playing field.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the biggest gainer since the electoral bond scheme was introduced in 2018.
