15 Feb 2024 2:26 AM GMT
A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will pronounce at 10.30 AM today judgment on the petitions challenging the electoral bonds scheme.
A 5-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard the matter and reserved the verdict on November 2 last year.
The petitioners - Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Dr Jaya Thakur -challenge the amendments introduced by the Finance Act 2017 which paved the way for electoral bonds scheme. According to the petitioners, the anonymity attached to the electoral bonds affects the transparency in political fundings and infringes the voters' right to information. They also contended that the scheme allowed contributions to be made through shell companies
The Union Government defended the scheme as a method to ensure that 'white' money is used for political funding through proper banking channels. The Government further contended that it was necessary to keep the identity of donors confidential so that they would not face any retribution from political parties.
During the hearing, the bench raised several pertinent queries to the Central Government about the scheme, flagging its "selective anonymity" and also asked whether it is legalising kickbacks for parties. The bench observed that it was possible for the ruling party to know the identity of the donors, whereas the opposition parties could not get such information. The bench also raised questions about the removal of the condition that companies can only donate a maximum of 7.5% of their net profits to political parties.
While concluding the hearing, the bench also directed the Election Commission of India to submit to the Court in a sealed cover the details of the contributions received by all political parties through electoral bonds till September 30.
Follow this page for live updates from the pronouncement.