The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea seeking the
review of its decision against the petitions for confiscating Rs 16,518 crore
received by political parties under the 2018 electoral bond scheme.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices
J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra dismissed the review plea filed by one Khem Singh
Bhati against the top court's decision of August 2, 2024.
The apex court had then rejected the petition
seeking confiscation of money received under the scheme.
The bench on March 26 held, "The review
petition is dismissed in terms of the signed order. Pending application(s), if
any, shall stand disposed of." The top court's order, made available
recently, also refused to accept Bhati's prayer for an open-court hearing in
the matter.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by former CJI
D Y Chandrachud on February 15 last year scrapped the electoral bonds scheme of
anonymous political funding introduced by the BJP government.
Following the top court's judgement, the State Bank
of India, the authorised financial institution under the scheme, shared the
data with the election commission which made it public.
The electoral bonds scheme, which was notified by
the government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash
donations made to political parties as part of its efforts to bring in
transparency in political funding.