The Supreme Court today reserved its order in the challenge to electoral bonds..A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna heard the parties before reserving the order. The order will be pronounced at 10.30 am tomorrow..Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Central government, made some controversial arguments today..Referring to the contention of the petitioners that voters have a right to know, the AG said,.“Their contention is voters have a right to know. Voters have a right to know what? Voters dont need to know where money of political parties comes from. .Also, there is the Right to Privacy after Puttaswamy judgment”, submitted Venugopal..The AG stuck to his stand that the object of the scheme of electoral bonds is to curb black money..He stressed on the following aspects:.1. The scheme of electoral bonds was introduced for elimination of black money.2. It is a matter of policy and no government can be faulted for trying to do it.Venugopal also detailed the safeguards put in place in the form of KYC guidelines as well as the measures to ensure that the identity of the purchaser of electoral bonds is not disclosed..“One Political party can open only one current account for electoral bonds. Government has put in every effort to ensure that identity of those donating funds through electoral bonds is not disclosed.” .Venugopal also spoke about the corruption and malpractice in elections..“Every illegal method to woo voters is adopted, that is the way of life.”.The AG said that scheme of electoral bonds is an experiment to curb the same, and that the Court should not interfere at least until the end of the Lok Sabha Elections..“If the government seeks to stem the flow of black money, should Court interefere? It is an experiment and should get the support of the Court..I request Your Lordship not to interfere for the time being. Let it continue till the end of this elections. Once the new government comes to power, it will review the scheme”, Venugopal requested..The Bench, however, proceeded to quiz Venugopal on his contention on how electoral bonds would help curb black money..CJI Ranjan Gogoi was first. He asked:.“We want to know when the bank issues an electoral bond on application by x or y, whether the bank will have details which bond has been issued to x and which to y?”.After the AG replied in the negative, CJI Gogoi said,.“If so, your entire exercise of trying to fight black money becomes futile.”.Subsequently, Justice Sanjiv Khanna also quizzed the AG..“KYC which you have mentioned is only about identity of the purchaser. It is not a certificate of genuineness of the money – whether it is black or white.”.Khanna J. also explained how black money can be made white by routing through multiple shell companies, and that KYC wouldn’t serve any purpose in such cases..Venugopal’s response was that it was an experiment by the government and it is not worse off than what is currently in place..“Shell companies etc will continue even if electoral bonds are not there. However, Electoral bonds are not worse off than what is existing. So let it continue for now as an experiment”, he said..The Court then heard brief rejoinder submissions by the petitioners before reserving its order..The order will be pronounced at 10.30 am tomorrow.
The Supreme Court today reserved its order in the challenge to electoral bonds..A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna heard the parties before reserving the order. The order will be pronounced at 10.30 am tomorrow..Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Central government, made some controversial arguments today..Referring to the contention of the petitioners that voters have a right to know, the AG said,.“Their contention is voters have a right to know. Voters have a right to know what? Voters dont need to know where money of political parties comes from. .Also, there is the Right to Privacy after Puttaswamy judgment”, submitted Venugopal..The AG stuck to his stand that the object of the scheme of electoral bonds is to curb black money..He stressed on the following aspects:.1. The scheme of electoral bonds was introduced for elimination of black money.2. It is a matter of policy and no government can be faulted for trying to do it.Venugopal also detailed the safeguards put in place in the form of KYC guidelines as well as the measures to ensure that the identity of the purchaser of electoral bonds is not disclosed..“One Political party can open only one current account for electoral bonds. Government has put in every effort to ensure that identity of those donating funds through electoral bonds is not disclosed.” .Venugopal also spoke about the corruption and malpractice in elections..“Every illegal method to woo voters is adopted, that is the way of life.”.The AG said that scheme of electoral bonds is an experiment to curb the same, and that the Court should not interfere at least until the end of the Lok Sabha Elections..“If the government seeks to stem the flow of black money, should Court interefere? It is an experiment and should get the support of the Court..I request Your Lordship not to interfere for the time being. Let it continue till the end of this elections. Once the new government comes to power, it will review the scheme”, Venugopal requested..The Bench, however, proceeded to quiz Venugopal on his contention on how electoral bonds would help curb black money..CJI Ranjan Gogoi was first. He asked:.“We want to know when the bank issues an electoral bond on application by x or y, whether the bank will have details which bond has been issued to x and which to y?”.After the AG replied in the negative, CJI Gogoi said,.“If so, your entire exercise of trying to fight black money becomes futile.”.Subsequently, Justice Sanjiv Khanna also quizzed the AG..“KYC which you have mentioned is only about identity of the purchaser. It is not a certificate of genuineness of the money – whether it is black or white.”.Khanna J. also explained how black money can be made white by routing through multiple shell companies, and that KYC wouldn’t serve any purpose in such cases..Venugopal’s response was that it was an experiment by the government and it is not worse off than what is currently in place..“Shell companies etc will continue even if electoral bonds are not there. However, Electoral bonds are not worse off than what is existing. So let it continue for now as an experiment”, he said..The Court then heard brief rejoinder submissions by the petitioners before reserving its order..The order will be pronounced at 10.30 am tomorrow.
