Electoral Bonds Verdict LIVE: SC Says Electoral Bonds Scheme Unconstitutional, Asks SBI To Furnish Details To EC
The Supreme Court said it has delivered a unanimous verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the legal validity of electoral bonds scheme which allows for anonymous funding to political parties.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said the electoral bonds scheme violates the right to information of citizens adding that the citizens have the right to hold government to account. The Chief Justice said the infringement to the right to information is not justified by the purpose of curbing black money.
The Supreme Court has directed the State Bank of India to stop issuing Electoral Bonds immediately and submit all details to the Election Commission by March 6. The EC will make all donations public within one week of the receipt of the information. All Electoral Bonds within the 15-day validity period shall be returned by political parties to the purchasers.
The Chief Justice has said that SBI shall furnish all the details of electoral bonds encashed by all political parties. SBI will submit the details of the bonds encashed to the Election Commission and then the EC shall publish the details on the website by March 31.
The Supreme Court has said that the right to privacy does not extend to contributions made to influence policy and that the government has not been able to establish that electoral bonds are the least restrictive means of polticial funding, with respect to Right to Information.
Electoral bonds scheme has to be struck down as unconstitutional, the Chief Justice of India said.
Infringement to the right to information is not justified by the purpose of curbing black money, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, while pronouncing judgement on the legality of electoral bonds.
The Supreme Court has rule that the Right to Information crucial. It added that citizens have right to hold government to account.
Supreme Court says it has delivered a unanimous verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the legal validity of the Central government’s Electoral Bond scheme which allows for anonymous funding to political parties.
The Supreme Court of India will deliver the verdict on pleas chellenging the legality of the electoral bonds shortly.
Electoral bonds are interest-free bonds that can be purchased by companies and Indian citiezens from authorised branches of the State Bank of India. These bonds are sold in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore. These bonds can be purchased through a KYC-compliant account to make donations to a political party.
The petitioners had argued before the Supreme Court that the Electoral Bond scheme violates the citizen's fundamental right to information under Article 19 (1) and it enables backdoor lobbying and promotes corruption. Responding to the challenge, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had contended that the scheme is intended to reduce cash in the electoral process. Mehta asserted that the Union government cannot know the details of donations made through Electoral Bonds.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury likened the electoral bond scheme to the legalisation of political corruption and hoped that the Supreme Court would soon deliver its verdict on pleas to scrap the scheme.
A 5-bench Supreme Court, headed by CJI DY Chandrachud, is scheduled to announce the verdict of the case at 10:30 am today on Thursday.
Background
The Supreme Court has ruled the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional and asked the State Bank of India to furnish details of bonds to the Election Commission, which will then make it public. Pronouncing the verdict, the CJI said the scheme is violative of freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of Constitution.
The apex court in a unanimous judgement struck down the legal validity of the electoral bonds scheme. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had on November 2 last year reserved its verdict in the matter.
The verdict will be delivered at 10:30 am on Thursday by the Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice.
The bench had earlier proposed exploring alternative systems for the funding of political parties while the flaws of the current system are ironed out. The electoral bonds scheme was launched in 2018, where the bonds was used as instruments that can be purchased by individuals or companies from banks to present to a political party, which can in turn use the same for donations.
The scheme was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring in transparency in political funding.
As per the provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by an Indian citizen or entity incorporated or established in the country. An individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.
Only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and which secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the last elections to the Lok Sabha or a state legislative assembly are eligible to receive electoral bonds.
In April 2019, the SC had declined to stay the electoral bonds scheme and made it clear that it would accord an in-depth hearing on the pleas as the Centre and the EC had raised weighty issues that had tremendous bearing on the sanctity of the electoral process in the country.
The Constitution bench had on October 31 last year commenced hearing arguments on the four petitions filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
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