NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has struck down the electoral bonds scheme that was introduced by the BJP government at the Centre.
Striking down the electoral bonds scheme, the Supreme Court termed it ‘unconstitutional’.
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Serving a significant blow to the BJP government, the Supreme Court said that the electoral bonds scheme for political funding violates right to freedom of speech and expression, along with the right to information.
The electoral bonds scheme was introduced by the BJP government in 2017 and officially notified it on January 02, 2018.
A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by chief justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, began hearing pleas challenging the electoral bonds scheme on October 31 last year.
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On Thursday (February 15), the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous judgement annulling the electoral bonds scheme, directing the State Bank of India to disclose details of contributors to the scheme to the Election Commission by March 06.
The election commission has also been instructed to publish this information on its official website by March 13.
Also read: Anonymous political donations unconstitutional: Supreme Court
Meanwhile, the opposition parties have welcomed the verdict of the Supreme Court saying that the scheme was “opaque and undemocratic”.
“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 promised to scrap Modi government’s dubious scheme,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
He said: “We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court, which has struck down this ‘Black Money Conversion’ scheme of the Modi government, calling it ‘unconstitutional’.”
“We remember how the Modi government, PMO and finance minister 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,” he added.
“We hope that Modi government will stop resorting to such mischievous ideas in future and listens to the Supreme Court, so that democracy, transparency and level-playing field persists,” the Congress president further said.