Supreme refuses to ban election bonds: Notice to respond to Punch

(PTI) New Delhi, Ta. January 20, 2020, Monday

The Supreme Court has recently banned electoral bonds. During the hearing of the Association of Democratic Reform petition, the court said there would be no current ban on electoral bonds.

A further hearing on the matter will be held after two weeks. At the same time, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to send a written reply to the issue within two weeks.

During the hearing, Prashant Bhushan, from the petitioner, said that at every election, the ruling party is getting large sums of money and the court should ban it. In addition, the SBI and the Election Commission argued that this was acceptable.

Before every election, the government starts planning election bonds. The Reserve Bank and the Election Commission have also written to the central government on this issue. Now, even before the Delhi Assembly elections, the government has come up with an electoral bond scheme that should be banned.

The petition calls for the ban on Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 as well as the identity of the donor under the election bond is kept secret.

The details of the direct or indirect contributors from abroad are kept secret and political parties also do not make public the names of the donors. The Supreme Court on April 12 rejected the demand for a ban on funds provided through election bonds.

The Supreme Court directed all political parties to hand over the identity of the funders and the details of the funds in their account to the Election Commission by packing in sealed cover by May 30. At the same time, the Election Commission was directed to keep those details in the cover till further orders.

The Supreme Court itself said that after examining the changes in the law, the balance would ensure that the balance was not leaned to any one party. However, the Election Commission, at that time, also opposed the scheme, saying it lacked transparency.