New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered its verdict on the series of pleas which challenge the legal validity of the electoral bonds scheme. The verdict was delivered by a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
The Supreme Court has asked the State Bank of India to stop issuing all electoral bonds, and to submit all the details to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Supreme Court says information about corporate contributors through Electoral Bonds must be disclosed as the donations by companies are purely for quid pro quo purposes.
CJI Chandrachud said, “Constitution does not turn a blind eye only because there is a possibility of misuse. We have use the double proportionality standard. Clause 7(4) of the scheme tilts the balance is favour of informational privacy because it grants anonymity to the contributors but there is no nexus to balancing measures adopted.”
A five-judge constitutional bench, headed by CJI Chandrachud, had earlier proposed exploring alternative systems for the funding of political parties while the flaws of the current system are ironed out.
The financial scheme was launched in 2018, where electoral bonds were used as instruments that can be purchased by individuals or companies from banks to present to a political party, which can in turn redeem the same for funds and donations.
The electoral bonds scheme was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring in transparency to political funding.
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