Today, the Supreme Court of India reserved judgment in a batch of petitions challenging the electoral bonds scheme.
The matter was heard before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Dr. Jaya Thakur have filed a legal challenge against the amendments introduced by the Finance Act of 2017, which established the electoral bonds scheme. The petitioners argue that the anonymity associated with electoral bonds undermines transparency in political funding and violates voters' right to information. Additionally, they assert that the scheme enables contributions to be channeled through shell companies.
During the hearing, the bench posed several significant questions to the Central Government regarding the electoral bonds scheme, highlighting concerns about its "selective anonymity." The bench inquired whether the scheme might inadvertently legitimize kickbacks for political parties. Furthermore, the bench noted the potential for the ruling party to have access to donor identities, while opposition parties might be denied this information, raising issues of unequal access. The bench also questioned the removal of the previous restriction that limited corporate donations to political parties to a maximum of 7.5% of their net profits.
In their concluding remarks, the bench also instructed the Election Commission of India to provide the Court with information on contributions received by all political parties through electoral bonds until September 30, with this information to be submitted in a sealed cover.
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