The Supreme Court on Monday expressed doubts about hearing, before Dasara holidays, a pending challenge against the government’s Electoral Bond Scheme and amendments to the Finance Act of 2017, which allows for “unlimited donations from individuals and foreign companies to political parties without any record of the sources of funding.”
Making an urgent oral mentioning before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, advocate Prashant Bhushan said the petition had been listed on Friday and should be heard that day.
However, the CJI voiced reservations about whether the Bench would be able to hear the case on Friday, which is the last day before the court closes for Dasara holidays.
The CJI, however, said the court would take a call on the case on Friday when it is called.
The government has justified the electoral bonds scheme as a bid to promote transparency in funding and donation received by political parties.
“They [bonds] can be encashed by an eligible political party only through its bank accounts with the authorised bank. The bonds do not have the name of the donor or the receiving political party and only carry a unique hidden alphanumeric serial number as an in-built security feature,” the government’s 21-page affidavit has said.
The government has described the scheme as an “electoral reform” in a country moving towards a “cashless-digital economy.”
However, the Election Commission had filed an affidavit in 2019, saying the government’s electoral bonds scheme for political funding has legalised anonymity.
Electoral bonds protect the identity of political donors and parties receiving the contributions. Donors who contribute less than ₹20,000 to political parties through purchase of electoral bonds need not provide their identity details like PAN, etc.
The government has defended the electoral bonds scheme as a measure to eradicate black money in political funding.
