Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 15: The opposition political parties and several former election commissioners on Thursday welcomed the verdict of the five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court striking down the electoral bonds scheme as “unconstitutional and arbitrary.”
The former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi called the judgement a “great boon for democracy.” “This will restore people’s faith in democracy. This is the greatest thing that could have happened. This is the most historic judgement that we have got from the Supreme Court in the last five-seven years. It is a great boon for democracy,” Quraishi said.
“We were all concerned for the last so many years. Everyone who loves democracy was protesting about it. I myself wrote several articles, spoke to the media many times. And every issue that we raised has been tackled in the judgment,” he said.
The former CEC also put out a post on X hailing the Supreme Court for the verdict. “Electoral Bonds declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Three cheers for the SC!” The 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 efforts to bring transparency in political funding.
Another former Chief Election Commissioner T. S. Krishnamurthy termed as “historic” the Supreme Court verdict annulling the electoral bonds scheme and said it was in the interest of a clean democracy. Mr Krishnamurthy said he entirely agreed with the judgment, noting that he had made public statements in the past that the electoral bonds scheme was not right for transparency in political funding.
He said, “In fact, the scheme is not at all the right method, though it was claimed that it is promoting transparency because it goes through the banking channel. But the origin of the funding and name of the donor are not known. And how do you know if it’s clean money or dirty money; it’s not known.” “It is a historic judgment, it’s in the interest of a clean democracy. I only hope that the political parties will learn their lessons,” Mr Krishnamurthy said.
Welcoming the verdict, the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the verdict would reinforce the power of votes over notes. He said his party hoped that the Modi government would stop resorting to such “mischievous ideas” in the future and listen to the Supreme Court so that democracy, transparency and level-playing field persist. He pointed out that the Congress had called the scheme “opaque and undemocratic” when it was launched.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said at a press conference in New Delhi that the Congress has been fighting this battle for the last seven years both within Parliament and outside and its stand has been vindicated. “We are grateful to the Supreme Court of India. We, as a nation, stand strengthened and encouraged,” Mr Khera said and added that, “Today, we stand vindicated.”
Mr Khera charged that the electoral bonds were “a wilful tool of concealment, of absolute exoneration from political accountability.” “That was their only purpose and all the intellectualisations offered at the time have failed to withstand judicial scrutiny,” he noted.
The former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, “Another proof of Narendra Modi’s corrupt policies is in front of you. The BJP had made electoral bonds a medium for taking bribe and commission. Today a stamp has been put on this.”
Welcoming the Supreme Court judgement, the CPI(M) which was among the petitioners challenging the electoral bonds scheme, said it was an “unscrupulous scheme designed to help the ruling party” and it was now essential to introduce reforms for political and electoral funding.
“It is gratifying that the main contentions set out in the petition against the scheme have been upheld. It is essential now that reforms for political and electoral funding are introduced to ensure transparency, clean funding and a level playing field,” the party said.
“The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) hails the historic judgment of the Supreme Court, which has struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional. By this verdict, this unscrupulous scheme designed to finance the ruling party by anonymous corporate donors has been completely scrapped,” the party said in a statement.
The party had declared at the outset itself that it would not accept electoral bonds as this scheme legalises corruption, the statement read, adding that the CPI(M) had challenged the electoral bonds scheme in the Supreme Court along with other petitioners.
The scheme, which was notified by the government on January 2, 2018, introduced money instruments through which companies and individuals in India can donate to political parties anonymously. Consequently, Congress leader Dr Jaya Thakur, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) challenged the scheme by contending that it opens the “floodgates” to anonymous political donations thereby infringing upon the voters’ right to information.
The Union government on the other hand defended the scheme by pointing out that anonymity in political donations was required to ensure that there was no apprehension of retribution from other political parties. It was also argued that the scheme ensured that ‘white’ money was used for political funding through proper banking channels.
The CPI(M-L) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya hailed the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Electoral Bond Scheme, describing it as “anti-democratic and unconstitutional.”
The CPI also welcomed the apex court verdict. A statement by Ram Naresh Pandey, state secretary (Bihar), CPI, said, “This decision of the SC will strengthen the democratic system in the country. Electoral bonds are against the democratic system of the country.”
Welcoming the Supreme Court’s verdict on electoral bonds, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami said his party was the only party that did not receive funds through the scheme. Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly House, Mr Palaniswami called upon the media to expose all those parties that received hefty sums through the electoral bonds. “It’s a pretty huge sum raised through bonds… those parties are suppressing us and trying to destroy us with their money power. Definitely we welcome it,” he said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin also welcomed the Supreme Court order.
The Aam Aadmi Party welcomed the decision saying it was an important step in ensuring transparency in election funding. “We welcome this decision. This is an important step in the transparency of election funding. Otherwise through electoral bonds, it was not known which person was giving funds to which party. It is important for country’s democracy that it is known which person is giving how much money to which political party,” the party said.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction said the verdict was a welcome move and there should be transparency and accountability of every donation that comes to a political party.
NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar spokesperson Clyde Crasto claimed the electoral bonds scheme was brought to practice to benefit the ruling BJP from anonymous donors and BJP was the only party that has benefited from it since it was implemented. “The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the electoral bonds scheme, calling it “unconstitutional”, is a very welcome move. There should be transparency and accountability of every donation that comes to a political party,” Mr Crasto said.
The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the electoral bond scheme will help bring in transparency in political funding and protect the interest of people, Congress leader Jaya Thakur, who had challenged the scheme in the apex court, said.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan who appeared for one of the petitioners said the petitions filed have been comprehensively allowed by the Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court has struck down the electoral bond scheme, comprehensively struck it down, and all the provisions that were made to bring it into effect in the Income Tax Act, in the Companies Act, etc. Everything has been struck down.”
“They have held that this violates the fundamental right to information of citizens to know about who is contributing this much money to political parties, et cetera. They have also struck down the amendment made, which allowed unlimited political contribution being made by companies to political parties,” he added.
“So not only the electoral bond scheme but also the amendment which removed the restrictions on political contributions by companies, which were that you cannot contribute more than seven and a half per cent of your annual profit by way of political contributions. That has also been struck down as violating the level playing field in a democracy. So the petitions filed by us have been comprehensively allowed by the Supreme Court,” Mr Prashant Bhushan said.
