'Unconstitutional': Supreme Court Strikes Down Electoral Bonds Scheme For Political Donations

The Supreme Court on Thursday (15 February) struck down the Electoral Bonds scheme for political funding as "unconstitutional', saying it violates the citizens' right to information.

The electoral bonds scheme, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said, was unconstitutional and arbitrary and may lead to a quid pro quo arrangement between political parties and donors.

The Supreme Court's verdict came on a set of pleas challenging the legal validity of the Electoral Bonds scheme.

The stated objective of fighting black money and maintaining the confidentiality of donors cannot be used to defend the scheme, the Constitution bench of five judges ruled.

Electoral bonds are interest-free bearer instruments that are essentially used to donate money anonymously to political parties.

The scheme was first announced in the 2017 Union Budget speech when Late Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister.

A constitution bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra heard a batch of cases challenging the controversial electoral bonds scheme over a period of three days, before reserving the verdict in November.

The chief justice held that the restrictive means test is not satisfied and that there are other means other than electoral bonds to achieve the purpose of curbing black money.

"Contribution by other means of electronic transfer and electoral trusts is other restrictive means. Thus curbing black money is not a ground for Electoral Bonds," the Chief Justice said.

The CJI directed the State Bank of India to stop issue of these bonds at once and provide details of donations made through this mode to the Election Commission of India.

The poll body was asked to publish this information on its website by 13 March.

Political parties should thereafter refund the Electoral bonds amount to the purchasers account, the Court ordered.