SC to pronounce order on plea seeking stay on electoral bond sale ahead of polls tomorrow

On Friday, the Supreme Court is set to pronounce its order on a plea seeking a stay on the sale of electoral bonds prior to the upcoming Assembly elections in 4 states and one Union Territory. Notified by the Centre on January 2, 2018, this scheme entails the usage of electoral bonds which are interest-free bearer instruments used to donate money anonymously to political parties. Electoral bonds are issued in multiples of Rs.1,000, Rs.10,000 and Rs.1 crore by select State Bank of India (SBI) branches through a KYC-compliant account. 

Congress has launched a sustained attack against this scheme alleging that it was a ploy to transfer "black money to the BJP coffers”. Leaders such as Manish Tewari and Rahul Gandhi stepped up their criticism after some media reports claimed that the government had overruled the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to introduce this scheme. The petition, in this case, was filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms seeking a direction to put the sale of electoral bonds scheduled between April 1-10 on hold. 

Details of the hearing

On Wednesday, a three-judge SC bench comprising CJI SA Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian expressed concern over the possibility of political parties misusing money received through electoral bonds to fuel violent protests or terrorism. Appearing for the Centre, Attorney General KK Venugopal submitted that only registered parties who have not secured less than 1% of votes in the previous election are eligible to receive donations through electoral bonds. Arguing for ADR, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan stated that this scheme introduces anonymity in political donations at many levels.

At this juncture, the counsel for the Election Commission added that it supported the scheme but wanted more transparency which can be considered at the final argument stage. Alleging that the scheme opens the door for direct bribery, he stressed that the electorate deserves to know the source of funds and antecedents of candidates. When the CJI pointed out that donations can be given to opposition parties too, Bhushan retorted that the government would know if money is given to other parties.

When the bench asked the Attorney General about this selective anonymity, the latter affirmed that the then Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had introduced this scheme to rid politics and polls of the influence of black money. He added that every penny is now accounted for. Thereafter, the court reserved the plea for orders.