Picture : ANI / X
In a landmark judgment and a massive blow to the Modi government, the Supreme Court has annulled the electoral bonds scheme, saying it violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information.
The apex court ordered the State Bank of India (SBI) to disclose to the Election Commission the names of the contributors to the six-year-old scheme.
Supreme Court says it has delivered a unanimous verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the legal validity of the Central government’s Electoral Bond scheme which allows for anonymous funding to political parties.
Supreme Court holds Electoral Bonds scheme is violative of Article 19(1)(a) and unconstitutional. Supreme Court strikes down Electoral Bonds scheme. Supreme Court says Electoral Bonds scheme has to be struck down as unconstitutional.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud directed that the SBI must disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties. The information should include the date of encashment and the denomination of the bonds and be submitted to the poll panel by March 6
The Election Commission should publish the information shared by SBI on its official website by March 13, the bench said.
The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, delivered two separate and unanimous verdicts on the pleas challenging the scheme.
Pronouncing the verdict, the CJI said the scheme is violative of the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of Constitution.
“The electoral bonds scheme and the impugned provisions to the extent that they infringe upon the right to information of the voter by anonymising contribution through electoral bonds are violative of Article 19 (1)(a),” the CJI said while pronouncing the verdict.
The bench said the fundamental right to privacy also includes the citizens’ right to political privacy and affiliation.
It also held as invalid the amendments made in various laws, including the Representation of Peoples Act and the income tax laws.
The apex court directed that the SBI shall stop issuing electoral bonds and submit details of bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 till date to the Election Commission. It should also submit details of political parties which have received contributions through electoral bonds since April 12, 2019 till date to the poll panel.
In October last year, the bench began hearing arguments on the four petitions, including those filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur, the Communist Party of India –Marxist and the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
After the Supreme Court verdict . Opposition reaction was quick and they slammed the BJP
P Chidambaram Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister
The right of the people to know has been placed above all clever legal arguments marshalled to defend the illegal Electoral Bonds Scheme
The judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court is a great victory for transparency, the right to know and, if I may add, level playing field in…
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 15, 2024
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala said , “SC has given a historic verdict and abolished BJPs black money conversion scheme, that is the Electoral Bond Scheme…”
Congress MP and former I&B Minister Manish Tiwari said , “SC decision should be welcomed by all right-minded people who believe in probity in public life… Supreme court ordering the SBI, the operator of Electoral Bonds Scheme to provide all the data to the Election Commission and the EC to publish it on its website is a welcome decision…”
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal told ANI , “This is a huge ray of hope not just for a, b or c political party but for democracy itself. It’s a huge ray of hope for the citizens of this country. This whole scheme which was the brainchild of my late friend Arun Jaitley was in fact choreographed to enrich the BJP. Because everybody knew that the BJP was in power and that any donations through the electoral bond scheme would come to the BJP. But the interesting part is that this electoral bond scheme had nothing to do with elections. It was really the bonding between the corporate sector and the BJP which received the largest number of donations. And the donations they received over the years amounted to about five to 6000 cores. Now with 5000 to 6000 cores in your kitty which is not to be used in elections at all. You can build your infrastructure as a political party. You can build the infrastructure for the RSS. You can set up your communication network throughout the country.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted ,
This.
The BJP graph versus the rest.
Did someone say level playing field? pic.twitter.com/zP4gbw2oTL— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) February 15, 2024
Advocate Prashant Bhushan told media quoted by ANI said , “The Supreme Court has struck down the Electoral Bond scheme and all the provisions that were made to bring it into effect have been struck down. They have held that this violates the fundamental right to information of citizens to know about who is contributing money to political parties. They have also struck down the unlimited contribution being made by companies to political parties…”
