NEW DELHI: After months, the Supreme Court will hear the case filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) related to the anonymous electoral bonds scheme on Friday. The pleas are listed before the bench of Justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna.
When the petition was last listed on March 26, 2021, the bench led by the then CJI had refused to stay the release of the fresh set of electoral bonds from April 1 for the Assembly polls in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry. The court had said that since the bonds were allowed to be released in 2018, 2019, 2020 without interruption and there were sufficient safeguards, there was justification to not stay them at the moment.
“The apprehension that foreign corporate houses may buy the bonds and attempt to influence the electoral process in the country is also misconceived. Under Clause 3 of the Scheme, the bonds may be purchased only by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India,” the SC in its order had said.
The SC in 2019 by introducing an interim safeguard had asked all political parties to submit details of receipts of the electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in a sealed cover. The system of electoral bonds was introduced by way of a money bill by amendments in the Finance Act and the Representation of Peoples Act.
The ADR in the petitions had argued that such an anonymous route of funding amounted to legitimising bribery as corporates could fund the party in power in a state or Centre as a matter of quid pro quo.
Striking on the repercussions of the system on democracy, the petitions had also asserted that the scheme had opened floodgates to unlimited corporate donations to political parties and anonymous financing by Indian as well as foreign companies.
“These donations enjoy 100 per cent tax exemption and even foreign companies can donate through Indian subsidiaries,” the petitioner added. The petition had also contended that the identity of the donors could never be known to the public and referred to reservations raised by the Reserve Bank of India and Election Commission to the Scheme.