On Friday, the Centre told the Supreme Court that the electoral bonds scheme is an absolutely transparent system of political funding and that no black or unaccounted money can be obtained through it.
As part of efforts to increase transparency in political funding, electoral bonds have been promoted as an alternative to cash donations to political parties.
In defence of the electoral bonds scheme, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that there is absolutely no scope for black money or unaccounted money in the electoral bonds scheme.
“The methodology of receiving funds has been extremely transparent. We will go over each step in detail. It is now impossible to obtain any unaccounted or black money. It is the most transparent system. To say it affects democracy does not hold water,” Mehta appearing for the Union of India, told a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and B R Gavai.
The court is considering a number of petitions that question the legality of the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme, which was first proposed in 2017 and implemented in 2018. This is after 18 months since the case has been listed in the apex court.
NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Communist Party of India (Marxist), and other petitioners have submitted PILs.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who represented the NGO, stated that this is an issue that affects democracy. He stated that the matter should be heard as early as possible because electoral bonds are issued just before each state election.
Bhushan also claimed that the 2017 Finance Bill, which paved the way for the enactment of the electoral bond scheme, was passed as a money bill even though it was not. Appearing for one of the petitioners, Kapil Sibal, said the case should be heard by a larger bench.
The Supreme Court said it would decide on December 6 whether to refer a group of petitions challenging laws allowing political parties to be funded through the electoral bond scheme to a larger bench.
The Supreme Court stated that this is an important matter that requires a thorough hearing and requested the assistance of the Attorney General and Solicitor General in the matter.
Attorney General R Venkatmani stated that there is no critical urgency for the case to be listed and requested the court to list it in January 2023. Both Prashant Bhushan and Kapil Sibal however, objected to the suggestion by the Attorney General stating that pushing the hearing to January 2023 would in a way means further sales of electoral bonds.
Electoral Bonds
Electoral bonds may be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or is incorporated or established in India, according to the scheme’s provisions.
Individuals can purchase electoral bonds either individually or in groups. Only political parties that have been registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and have received at least one per cent of the votes cast in the most recent general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State are eligible to receive electoral bonds. The eligible political party may only cash electoral bonds through a bank account with an authorised bank.
