The law allowing the raising of donations through electoral bonds is again under question. However, earlier the Supreme Court had refused to interfere in this matter. But on Tuesday, the CJI’s bench agreed to hear it. The top court agreed to hear when advocate Prashant Bhushan said that this morning news has come that a Calcutta-based company has paid Rs 40 crore through electoral bonds to avoid raids by government agencies. He said that this is a blot on democracy.
Taking cognizance of Prashant Bhushan, the bench of CJI NV Ramanna also assured to list the petition soon for hearing. Bhushan, appearing for the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms Common Cause, said that this is a serious matter. There should be an immediate hearing on this. Referring to the matter before the CJI on Tuesday, Bhushan said that the matter has not been listed in the court even after more than a year. But at that time there was an outbreak of COVID.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the CJI said that the Election Commission along with the Reserve Bank had raised objections to the scheme. But it cannot be said that he opposed it. The Reserve Bank and the Commission had corresponded on some matters. Both had expressed doubts about some of these things.
What is the government’s electoral bond scheme
The Center had notified the Electoral Bond Scheme on January 2018. Under the scheme, any person can fund any political party by buying electoral bonds from SBI. To buy a bond, payment has to be made by draft or cheque. However, the Election Commission had also expressed concern over not disclosing the names of the donors. The commission had objected to allowing loss-making companies to buy bonds. But as a whole, nothing has been done to oppose the scheme.
The government’s argument was that earlier election donations were given in cash. Due to this the possibility of black money increased significantly. The government said that under this scheme, electoral bonds can be bought only through check or e-payment, so the possibility of black money movement becomes negligible.