Supreme Court to pronounce verdict on electoral bonds tomorrow

The Supreme Court is all set to pronounce its verdict on the validity of electoral bonds tomorrow. 

A five judge bench will be pronouncing its judgement on a bunch of petitions which are challenging the electoral bonds. 

The apex court had reserved the case for judgment in November 2023. The SC had also directed the Election Commission to furnish all data on donations that political parties received through the scheme until September 30, 2023.

The scheme has been challenged by the Association for Democratic Reforms, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress party. They were represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Vijay Hansaria, and lawyer Prashant Bhushan. Attorney General (AG) Venkatramani and Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta represented the government side. .

The petitioners mounted their challenge on the first day of the hearing, with Prashant Bhushan arguing that electoral bonds are eroding the institution of democracy since they lack transparency. He further argued that the scheme itself ensures that there is no level playing field between the ruling party and the opposition party.

Electoral bonds as a scheme were notified on January 2, 2018. The scheme introduced money instruments through which companies and individuals in India can donate to political parties anonymously by buying bonds from the notified State Bank of India branches.