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It is wrong to change the law so that political parties can get unlimited funds : SC

Supreme Court strikes down Electoral bonds

New Delhi – In a landmark unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme as ‘unconstitutional and manifestly arbitrary’, which provides blanket anonymity to political donors, as well as critical legal amendments allowing rich corporations to make unlimited political donations. The Supreme Court gave this decision while hearing the petitions challenging the scheme. The Court, in its judgment, held that anonymous electoral bonds violate the right to information under Article 19 (1) (A) of the Constitution. Therefore, the election withholding scheme is against the Constitution. It is wrong to change the law to let the political parties receive unlimited funds.

The Supreme Court gave its verdict that the State Bank of India should stop issuing Electoral bonds and asked after the order given to the Election Commission on 12th April 2019, how many Electoral bonds has the bank issued. It has been ordered that detailed information be given to the Court. Interestingly, in April 2019, the Supreme Court had refused to stay the ‘Electoral bonds scheme’.

What is the ‘Electoral bonds scheme’ ?

This scheme was launched by the Union Government of BJP in 2018.

The Government has notified the scheme of ‘Electoral bonds’ to cleanse the system of political funding in the country. The broad features of the scheme are given below:

1. Electoral Bond would be a bearer instrument in the nature of a Promissory Note and an interest free banking instrument. A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond.

2. Electoral bond would be issued/purchased for any value, in multiples of `1,000, `10,000, `1,00,000, `10,00,000 and `1,00,00,000 from the specified branches of the State Bank of India (SBI).

3. The purchaser would be allowed to buy electoral bond(s) only on due fulfilment of all the extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank account. It will not carry the name of payee. Electoral bonds would have a life of only 15 days during which it can be used for making donation only to the political parties registered under section 29A of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or a Legislative Assembly.

4. The bonds under the Scheme shall be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in the months of January, April, July and October, as may be specified by the Union Government. An additional period of 30 days shall be specified by the Union Government in the year of the General election to the House of People.

5. The bond shall be encashed by an eligible political party only through a designated bank account with the authorised bank.

Congress and Rahul Gandhi criticise the BJP

After the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme, Rahul Gandhi posted on ‘X’ and said that, “Another proof of Narendra Modi’s corruption has come in front of us. The BJP had made it a means of accepting bribes and brokering through Electoral bonds. This has been sealed today by the decision of the Supreme Court.”

The Congress said that the Modi Government had introduced the ‘Electoral bond scheme’ only to hide brokering, bribery and black money. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken a new level of corruption through Electoral bonds, which was exposed in front of the nation today. Prime Minister Modi’s corrupt policies are harmful and dangerous for the country.’’

Editorial Perspective

It is joke that a party known for corruption is criticising others of corruption !

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