The Supreme Court will consider several petitions on July 22 that call for an investigation into an alleged electoral financing scam involving electoral bonds (EBs) by a special investigation team (SIT) operating under judicial supervision. The top court rejected these petitions on February 15.
The petitions contended that the data on electoral bonds, which were made public by the Supreme Court on its orders, demonstrated that the majority of these were provided to political parties as “quid pro quo” agreements by corporations in exchange for financial benefits or to deter actions by federal agencies such as the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate (ED), and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
According to the data, private companies have given political parties millions of dollars, either as “protection money” to shield them from central government agencies or as a “bribe” in exchange for preferential treatment. A petitioner claimed that in certain cases, it has been observed that political parties in power at the federal level or in state legislatures have seemingly changed laws and/or policies to benefit private corporations at the expense of the general welfare and public funds.
On February 15, a five-judge Supreme Court panel unanimously declared the electoral bond program to be “unconstitutional.” The Supreme Court declared that because the plan did not reveal the funding to political parties, it was in violation of Article 19 of the Constitution.
As a result, the SC also struck down electoral bond-related clauses in the Companies Act, Income Tax Act, and Representation of the People Act. This ruling required the State Bank of India (SBI), which was required to issue these bonds, to stop doing so right away.
According to the data released, 1,260 companies and individuals paid ₹12,769 crore for electoral bonds. Approximately half of the total amount donated through electoral bonds was made up of the top 20 companies, which together accounted for ₹5,945 crore.
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