October 5th 2024.
The Supreme Court of India has made a decision to dismiss a group of appeals that were seeking a review of the court's ruling on the Modi government's electoral bonds scheme. This scheme, which allowed for anonymous political funding, was deemed unconstitutional by the court on February 15.
The bench, consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, stated that there was no apparent error in their initial ruling. They also denied the request to have the review petitions heard in an open court.
After carefully considering the review petitions, the bench concluded that there was no error on record and therefore, the petitions were dismissed. The court's order, dated September 25, was uploaded today.
One of the petitions, filed by advocate Mathews J Nedumpara and others, argued that the matter of the electoral bonds scheme falls under the jurisdiction of the legislative and executive branches of the government. Nedumpara also claimed that the court failed to recognize that the issue at hand was not a private matter, but rather a public one, affecting the entire country.
He further argued that if the court was going to interfere in matters of legislative policy, then the public should be given a chance to voice their opinions and the proceedings should be converted into representative proceedings. However, the court rejected these arguments and upheld their previous ruling.
The five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Chandrachud, had previously declared the electoral bonds scheme as "violative" of the constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression and right to information. The court also directed the State Bank of India, which was the authorized financial institution under the scheme, to provide details of all electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission. This information was to be published on the Commission's official website.
The electoral bonds scheme, introduced in 2018, aimed to bring transparency to political funding by providing an alternative to cash donations. However, the court found that it could potentially be used by ruling parties to coerce individuals and entities into making contributions.
The controversy surrounding the electoral bonds scheme became a major issue during the Lok Sabha elections, with the opposition claiming it to be an "extortion racket" and the ruling party defending it as a way to increase transparency in political funding.
In a compliance affidavit, the State Bank of India reported that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased and 22,030 were redeemed by political parties between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2020. This information was provided to the Election Commission in accordance with the court's order.
Overall, the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss the review petitions and uphold their previous ruling on the electoral bonds scheme remains unchanged.
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