Supreme Court to deliver verdict tomorrow in Electoral Bonds case

The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on Thursday in the case concerning the legal validity of the electoral bonds scheme that allows anonymous donations to political parties [Association for Democratic Reforms and Anr vs Union of India Cabinet Secretary and ors]. .A five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra had on November 2, 2023 reserved its judgment after a three-day hearing..The Supreme Court while reserving its verdict had asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to submit data up till September 30, 2023 regarding electoral bonds sold under the scheme.The electoral bonds scheme allows donors to anonymously send funds to a political party after buying bearer bonds from the State Bank of India (SBI).An electoral bond is an instrument in the nature of a promissory note or bearer bond which can be purchased by any individual, company, firm or association of persons provided the person or body is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India.The bonds, which are in multiple denominations, are issued specifically for the purpose of contributing funds to political parties in its existing scheme.Electoral bonds were introduced through the Finance Act, 2017, which in turn amended three other statutes - the RBI Act, the Income Tax Act and the Representation of People Act - to enable the introduction of such bonds.The 2017 Finance Act introduced a system by which electoral bonds could be issued by any scheduled bank for the purpose of electoral funding.The Finance Act was passed as a money bill, which meant that it did not require the assent of the Rajya Sabha.Various petitions were filed before the top court challenging at least five amendments made to different statutes through the Finance Act, 2017 on the ground that they have opened doors to unlimited, unchecked funding of political parties.The petitions also raised the ground that the Finance Act could not have been passed as a money bill.The Central government in its counter-affidavit maintained that the electoral bonds scheme is transparent.In March 2021, the Court dismissed an application seeking a stay on the scheme..Follow coverage of the case here.