Allow Cookies!
By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies
The Supreme Court has directed all the political parties to disclose details of the donations received by them through electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India.The disclosure of these particulars have to be made in sealed covers and the same has to be furnished by May 30. The particulars to be furnished pertain to all the donations received by the parties till date and shall include details of the donors, bank accounts and other relevant particulars.
The Court stated that the petition gives rise to “weighty issues” which need an indepth hearing which cannot be concluded in a limited time that was available before the Court. Thus, the interim order has been passed by the Court keeping in mind that the interim arrangement “does not tilt the balance in favour of either parties.”
The order was passed by a Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna in a petition filed by Association of Democratic Reforms.
The directions passed, in the interim, by the Court with regard to the scheme, thus, are:
The Bench reserved the interim order on Thursday on petitions filed by NGOs Common Cause and Association for Democratic Reforms(ADR) and CPI (M) challenging it. Electoral bonds were introduced by amendments made through the Finance Act 2017 to the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934, Representation of Peoples Act 1951, Income Tax Act 1961 and Companies Act. On January 2, 2018, the Centre notified the scheme for electoral bonds, which are in the nature of bearer instruments like a Promissory Note capable of being purchased by an Indian citizen or a body incorporated in India. The identity of the donor will be known only to the bank, which will be kept anonymous.
The petitioners had sought for immediate stay of the scheme, stating that 95% of the electoral bonds sold so far have been in favour of one political party, that is the current ruling party. They also stated that most of the bonds that have been purchased since 2018 have been of the denominations of 10 lakh and 1 crores, indicating that it is not common citizens but corporates that have been purchasing these bonds while enjoying complete anonymity accorded by the scheme.The Election Commission of India, represented by Senior Counsel Rakesh Dwivedi told the Court that though it was not opposed to the scheme of electoral bonds as such, it was against the anonymity. The EC, in its affidavit before the Court, had stated that it had expressed its concerns over the scheme to the Centre before the passage of the Bill that introduced the scheme. It was also stated by the EC that the body feared that foreign funding coming into Indian political discourse could lead to the influence of foreign companies on Indian policies.
The Centre’s stand, however, was that the scheme was aimed at curtailing inflow of black money into Indian politics. Attorney General for India KK Venugopal stressed that the government had placed checks and balances to ensure that the system also maintained the Right to privacy of the bond purchaser. The non-disclosure of the identity of the bond purchaser was important because if the political party which a person did not provide funds to came to power, the person could be victimised.
86540
103860
630
114
59824