Will hear petition against electoral bond scheme: CJI Ramana

Seeking urgent hearing, Bhushan said there is news that a company in Kolkata paid Rs 40 crore to avoid a raid. “It’s distorting democracy,” he contended.

The top court is seized of petitions filed by two NGOs — Common Cause and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) — challenging the scheme.

The 20th tranche of electoral bonds opened for sale April 1 to April 10.

Last month, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary provided break-up of the sale of electoral bonds: Rs 1056.73 crore in 2018; Rs 5071.99 crore in 2019; Rs 363.96 crore in 2020; Rs 1502.29 crore in 2021; and Rs 1213.26 crore in 2022.

In 19 tranches since 2018, bonds worth Rs 9208.23 crore were sold. Political parties encashed bonds worth Rs 9187.55 crore.

The reply also stated that no bonds were sold to foriegn entities as the scheme does not allow this.

Electoral bonds are purchased by donors and are valid for 15 days from the date of issue. A debt instrument, these can be bought by donors from a bank, and the political party can then encash them. These can be redeemed only by an eligible party by depositing them in its designated account maintained with a bank.

The bonds are issued by SBI in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.

In March 2021, the Supreme Court had dismissed ADR’s prayer to stay fresh sale of electoral bonds while an earlier petition it filed against the scheme is pending.

Disputing the NGO’s contention regarding “complete anonymity” of bond purchasers, the court said “it is not as though the operations under the Scheme are behind iron curtains incapable of being pierced”.

The court pointed out that bonds had been issued in the past — in 2018, 2019 and 2020 — “without any impediment” and it had already ordered “certain safeguards” by way of an interim order on April 12, 2019.

In its April 2019 interim order, which also came on an application by ADR, the Supreme Court had directed political parties to “forthwith” submit details of these bonds to the Election Commission. That order too had come on the petition filed by ADR in September 2017.

However, the NGO again approached the court, contending that the identity of the donors could never be known to the public.

The court referred to the Election Commission receiving details of contributions received through bonds, in pursuance of its April 2019 order, and said “we do not know at this stage as to how far the allegation that under the Scheme, there would be complete anonymity in the financing of political parties by corporate houses, both in India and abroad, is sustainable”.