Plea in SC seeks disclosure of electoral bonds sold from Mar 1, 2018, to Apr 11, 2019
NEW DELHI: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking disclosure of the details of electoral bonds sold from March 1, 2018, to April 11, 2019, saying voters are entitled to know funding to political parties for the entire period since the start of the scheme.
Citizen's Rights Trust (CRT), an association, moved the SC, despite the fact that it had in its landmark judgement, on February 15 held that Electoral bonds scheme has to be struck down as unconstitutional, and it directed state Bank of India (SBI) to stop issuing bonds immediately.
The CRT, in its petition filed before the apex court said that the voters are entitled to know the funding to political parties for the period from between March 1, 2018 to April 11, 2019,
The Association, CRT, said that 9,159 bonds worth Rs 4,002 crore have been sold between March 2018 to April 2019 which should be disclosed. "The people deserve to know who had bought them," it said.
It pointed out that at present, the data available on the platform of the Election Commission of India (ECI) represents only 76 per cent of the total EBs and the voters are not aware of the details of the remaining 24 per cent of the EBs. "Thereby the SC should pass appropriate orders, directions and or verdict to the respective parties in this regard," the CRT said in its application filed before the top court.
The petition of CRT sought a direction to the SBI to share the details of electoral bonds sold and redeemed from March 1, 2018, to April 11, 2019, including the alphanumeric number, date of purchase, denomination, names of donors and parties to the ECI.
"Once the entire Electoral Bond Scheme is held to be violative of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, the citizens are entitled to know the details of the donor and donee of the entire period from March 2018 onwards (the date when the scheme became functional)," the CRT said in its plea.
The Top Court in its landmark verdict had also said that the Amendments to Income Tax Act provision and the Sec 29C of the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act are declared to be ultra vires.
The CJI led bench said that the Amendment to the Companies Act (allowing blanket corporate political funding) is unconstitutional.
The Apex Court, in its verdict directed the SBI to stop issuing Electoral bonds immediately and also should disclose and submit all the details to the Election Commission by March 6.
The EC will make all donations public within one week of the receipt of the information. All EBs within the 15-day validity period shall be returned by political parties to the purchasers, the Top Court had said, in its verdict.
"Lack of privacy of political affiliation would be catastrophic. It can be used to disenfranchise voters. Right to informational privacy extends to financial contributions to political parties," the bench of the Apex Court had said.
The EB scheme was challenged by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Congress leader Jaya Thakur, and Spandan Biswal.