Electoral Bonds Verdict: The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the Electoral Bonds scheme as unconstitutional. The apex court said that the Electoral Bonds scheme is violative of Article 19(1)(a). Following the top court's decision, reactions started to pour in from leaders across party lines. The Congress welcomed the verdict saying that will reinforce the power of votes over notes. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the PM Modi-led central government has been "inflicting ANYAY upon ANYAY on the Annadatas while privileging the Chandadatas."
In a post on X, Jairam Ramesh said, "The Supreme Court has held the much-touted Electoral Bonds scheme of the Modi Sarkar as violative of both laws passed by Parliament as well as the Constitution of India. The long-awaited verdict is hugely welcome and will reinforce the power of votes over notes. The Modi Sarkar has been inflicting ANYAY upon ANYAY on the Annadatas while privileging the Chandadatas".
"We also hope that the Supreme Court will take note that Election Commission has been consistently refusing to even meet political parties on the issue of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). If everything is transparent in the voting process then why this obstinacy?," he added.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also reacted to the SC's verdict on Electoral Bonds scheme. Kharge said, "On the day of the launching of Electoral Bonds scheme the Congress party had called it opaque and undemocratic. Subsequently in its 2019 Manifesto Congress Party promised to scrap Modi Govt's dubious scheme. We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court today, which has struck down this 'Black Money Conversion' scheme of the Modi Govt, calling it “Unconstitutional”. We remember how the Modi Govt, PMO and FM bulldozed every institution - RBI, Election Commission, Parliament and Opposition to fill BJP's coffers. No wonder, 95% of the funding under this scheme was received by BJP. We hope that Modi Govt will stop resorting to such mischievous ideas in future and listens to the Supreme Court, so that Democracy, Transparency and level-playing field persists."