6.4.2022, New Delhi, Tuesday
The Supreme Court on Tuesday
agreed to hear a plea against the laws allowing political parties' funding
through the electoral bond scheme.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan,
representing the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, submitted before a
bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that it is a critical issue, which
requires urgent hearing. He cited a news report where a Calcutta-based company
paid Rs 40 crore through electoral bonds to ensure that no excise raids are
conducted on it.
The Chief Justice replied that
if it was not for Covid, then the court would have heard the matter.
The bench, also comprising
Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, assured Bhushan an early listing of the
matter.
In 2017, the NGO had filed a
plea alleging subversion of democracy through illicit and lack of transparency
in the accounts of all political parties. The government notified the Electoral
Bond Scheme on January 2, 2018.
In March, last year, the NGO
filed an interim application, in its pending petition, claiming there was a
serious apprehension that any further sale of electoral bonds before the
upcoming state elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam, would
further increase illegal and illicit funding of political parties through shell
companies.
"The Electoral Bonds
Scheme has opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate donations to political
parties and anonymous financing by Indian as well as foreign companies which
can have serious repercussions on the Indian democracy", the plea had
argued.
The top court, in January last
year, had declined to grant an interim stay on the 2018 Electoral Bonds Scheme.
It had also sought replies from the Central government and the Election
Commission on the NGO's plea.
The plea said the Finance Act
of 2017 had introduced the use of electoral bonds which is exempt from
disclosure under the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, opening doors to
unchecked, unknown funding to political parties. It argued that these
amendments have removed the existing cap of 7.5 percent of net profit in the
last 3 years on campaign donations by companies and have legalised anonymous
donations.
"Even loss-making
companies now qualify to make donations of any amount to political parties out
of their capital or reserves. Further, it opens up the possibility of companies
being brought into existence by unscrupulous elements primarily for routing
funds to political parties through anonymous and opaque instruments like
electoral bonds," argued the plea.