NEW DELHI, 15 February 2024: A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India today (15 February, 2024) in a historical judgement (video above) declared the Electoral Bonds Scheme unconstitutional which facilitated secret legal donations to political parties by corporates and individuals. The scheme came into force in 2088 when the late Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister of India. A party or individual under the scheme could buy an electoral bond of various denominations from the State Bank of India (SBI) and then the receiving party would cash it from the bank.
The government had then said the scheme was intended to bring transparency to the political donations system in India. Opposition parties Congress, AAP, TMC, among others have welcomed the verdict.
So, can the government take steps to negate the judgement? Kapil Sibbal, who represented the petitioners told the Indian Express, ” They cannot. An Ordinance cannot set aside a judgment. No law can set aside a judgment. They can bring an Ordinance to put in place a new funding system. But not this.”
The petitioners were – Association for Democratic Reforms, Common Cause and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Lawyers for petitioners – Advocate Prashant Bhushan; Senior Advocate Kapiil Sibal; Advocate Shadan Farasat; Advocate Nizam Pasha; Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria
Respondents – Union of India; Election Commission
Lawyers for respondents: Attorney General R. Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Advocate Amit Mishra and Advocate Kanu Agarwal.
Key issues: The scheme was unconstitutional, does it violate the right to voters privacy, donors anonymity and does the scheme hurt the democratic process and free and fair elections.
The Constitutional Bench that gave the verdict: D.Y. Chandrachud CJI, Sanjiv Khanna J, B.R. Gavai J, J.B. Pardiwala J and Manoj Misra J.
-The text information above has been obtained from various available sources and the video of the full judgement above is courtesy the Supreme Court of India You Tube Ch.
-The Full judgment (text) is courtesy Live Law.
– Featured photo is a grab from the judgement video.
