Electoral Bonds Case LIVE Updates | Supreme Court Strikes Down Scheme, Asks ECI To Furnish Details
The Supreme Court will announce its decision at 10.30 AM today (Thursday) on a number of petitions that question the legality of the Electoral Bond scheme, which enables secret funding to political parties. The judgment will be delivered by a 5-judge bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala & Manoj Misra. The scheme, which was introduced by the government on January 2, 2018, was meant to be a substitute for cash donations to political parties, aiming to make political funding more transparent.
According to the scheme, only the political parties that are registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and that got at least 1 per cent of the votes in the previous elections to the Lok Sabha or a state legislative assembly can receive electoral bonds.
The Centre had claimed in an affidavit that the Electoral Bonds scheme is a “completely transparent” mode of political funding and that it prevents black money or unaccounted money from entering the system. Various petitions are pending before the top court challenging amendments made to different laws through Finance Act 2017 and Finance Act 2016, arguing that they have allowed unlimited, unchecked funding of political parties.
