New Delhi: A Constitutional bench comprising of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Mishra heard a batch of petitions challenging the electoral bonds scheme.
The proceeding began as CJI Chandrachud noted that ‘victimisation & retribution is normally by a party in power, not by party in opposition’. To this, Solicitor General said “In case of cash, no body knew. I may go with a bag of 50 crores to a political party and nobody would know- where the money went, what it was used for..”
“Now when it is given to a political party, the party would deposit in a designated account. That account also will have to reflect in statement of accounts of that political party which will be filed before ECI. ECI would know at least 500 crores have come by way of clean money”, the Solicitor General further added.
Justice Khanna brought to notice that there are two aspects in the case. One, whether by giving confidentiality to a donor, is it possible to ensure greater public interest. Second, selective confidentiality; what happens if the person in power can have access to it.
The Finance Act 2017 introduced amendments in the Reserve Bank of India Act, Companies Act, Income Tax Act, Representation of People’s Act and Foreign Contributions Regulations Act to make way for the electoral bonds. The case involved a batch of petitions challenging the amendments introduced by the Finance Act 2017 paving way for the anonymous electoral bonds scheme.
The petitions filed by NGOs Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the political party Communist Party of India (Marxist) challenge the scheme results in making political funding non-transparent as the electoral bond donors are kept anonymous.
Read More: SC Hears Petitions Challenging Electoral Bonds Case
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