New Delhi: A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme on Thursday, calling it “unconstitutional” and was violative of the right to information, impacting free speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a).
The constitution bench which delivered the judgment comprised Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra heard a batch of cases challenging the controversial electoral.
“Information about funding of political parties is essential for the effective exercise of the choice of voting,” Chief Justice Chandrachud said while striking down the scheme, which was introduced through the Finance Act, 2017.
The State Bank of India (SBI), which is the issuing bank of electoral bonds, has been ordered to furnish details of the political parties that received electoral bonds since 2019 to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in three weeks. The ECI has been asked to publish such details on its official website as well. The electoral bonds that have not been encashed by political parties have to be returned to the purchaser.
The Supreme Court also quashed amendments made to the Income Tax Act and the Representation of People Act, which had made the donations anonymous. In a major observation. The judgment also said the amendment to the Companies Act, allowing blanket corporate political funding, was “unconstitutional”. The CJI said it violated the right to information of citizens about possible quid pro quo. Before the amendment to the Companies Act in 2017, loss-making firms in India were not allowed to contribute.
Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, Advocate Shadan Farasat, Advocate Nizam Pasha, Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria, and Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde appeared for the petitioners. Attorney General for India R Venkataramani, and Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta appeared for the Union Government.
