Supreme Court asked SBI to furnish the details of donations through electoral bonds and the details of political parties which received the contributions.
Supreme Court of India. (iStock)
Supreme Court on Thursday, 15 February, held that the anonymous electoral bonds are violative of the right to information and Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and struck down the electoral bonds scheme.
Deeming electoral bonds scheme ‘unconstitutional’, the Supreme Court observed that financial support to political parties can lead to a quid pro quo arrangement. “The electoral bonds scheme is not the only scheme to curb black money,” the court observed.
“There are other alternatives, infringement to the right to information is not justified by the purpose of curbing black money,” the court noted.
The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud said that the bench had arrived at a unanimous decision.
He added: “There are two opinions, one by myself and another by Justice Sanjiv Khanna. Both arrive at the same conclusion. There is a slight variance in the reasoning.”
Petitions raise the following issues (a) Whether amendments are violative of right to information under Article 19(1)(a) (b) Whether unlimited corporate funding violates principles of free and fair elections.
On the first issue, the Supreme Court said that citizens have the right to hold government to account. “The crucial aspect of the expansion of the right to information is that it is not confined to state affairs but also includes information necessary for participatory democracy,” the Supreme Court noted.
Court observed, “Political parties are relevant units in the electoral process. Information about the funding of political parties is essential for electoral choices.”
“The electoral bonds scheme has to be struck down as unconstitutional,” the court said.
The CJI said amendments to the Income Tax Act provision and the Sec 29C of the Representation of Peoples Act are declared ultra vires.
He said the Union government has been unable to establish the measure adopted in clause 7(4)(1) of the electoral scheme is the least restrictive measure.
He said informational privacy is applicable to political contributions, too. The right to privacy of political affiliation does not extend to contributions made to influence public policy and applies only to contributions below the threshold.
He said not all political contributions are made with the intent to alter public policy. “Students, daily wagers, etc, also contribute. To not grant an umbrella of privacy to political contributions only because some contributions are made for other purposes is not impermissible,” the Court held.
The Supreme Court also gave directions to Election Commission of India, State Bank of India which issues the electoral bonds and political parties on the matter.
The court said electoral bonds which are within the validity period of 15 days but which have not been encashed by the political parties yet shall be returned to the purchaser. The Court asked the issuing bank to then refund the amount to the purchaser’s account.
Further, the Supreme Court gave directions to SBI and ECI over electoral bonds:
May 08, 2024
May 08, 2024
May 06, 2024
May 06, 2024
May 06, 2024
May 04, 2024
