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The central government had notified the electoral bond scheme on January 2, 2018, which was declared illegal by the Supreme Court.
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. In this, a demand has been made to review the decision of August 2, 2024, in which the demand for confiscation of Rs 16,518 crore received by political parties through electoral bonds was rejected.
In the review petition, the court has been demanded to hear the case afresh. Also, a request has been made to withdraw and review that decision. Advocate Jayesh K Unnikrishnan and Advocate Vijay Hansaria have filed the review petition.
In fact, the Supreme Court on August 2 last year had rejected several petitions, including the one filed by Khem Singh Bhati, who had sought a court-monitored investigation into the Electoral Bond Scheme (EBS).
The petition said that the decision given in the ADR case has considered the electoral bonds invalid from the beginning. Therefore, the petition seeking confiscation of funding received by political parties cannot be dismissed.
A five-judge bench headed by former CJI DY Chandrachud had on February 15, 2024 struck down the electoral bond scheme for political funding launched by the BJP government.
What is Electoral Bond Scheme?
The Electoral Bond Scheme was introduced in the 2017 budget by the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The Central Government notified it on 2 January 2018. This is a kind of promissory note. It is also called bank note. Any Indian citizen or company can buy it.
The Election Commission had released the data on March 14.
State Bank of India (SBI) had submitted the data to the Supreme Court on March 12, 2024. At the same time, the Supreme Court had ordered the Commission to make the data public by March 15.
The Election Commission had released the electoral bond data on its website on March 14. BJP is the party taking maximum donations. From 12 April 2019 to 11 January 2024, the party has received the maximum of Rs 6,060 crore.
Trinamool Congress is at second place in the list (1,609 crores) and Congress Party is at third place (1,421 crores). However, the amount donated by which company to which party is not mentioned in the list. The Election Commission has uploaded 2 lists of 763 pages on the website. A list contains information about those who bought bonds.
The parties that encashed electoral bonds include Congress, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JDS, NCP, JDU and RJD.
Why did the electoral bond scheme come into controversy?
While presenting it in 2017, Arun Jaitley had claimed that it would bring transparency in the funding of political parties and the election system. Black money will be curbed. At the same time, the protesters said that the identity of the person purchasing electoral bonds is not disclosed, due to which they can become a means of using black money in elections.
The plan was later challenged in 2017 itself, but the hearing began in 2019. On April 12, 2019, the Supreme Court directed all political parties to submit all information related to electoral bonds to the Election Commission in an envelope by May 30, 2019. However, the court did not stop this plan.
Later in December 2019, petitioner Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) moved an application to stay the scheme. In this, quoting media reports, it was told how the concerns of the Election Commission and the Reserve Bank on the electoral bond scheme were ignored by the Central Government.
Congress said- corruption in electoral bond scheme
After the release of electoral bond data, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had said that BJP has committed corruption worth crores of rupees through the scheme. He gave 4 reasons for this. He said that we will ask for a unique bond ID number, which will help in knowing exactly who has donated how much to whom.
Any Indian could buy, validity of 15 days Before the immediate ban by the Supreme Court, electoral bonds were available in 29 selected branches of State Bank of India. The buyer could donate this bond to the party of his choice. Provided that the party receiving the bond is eligible for it.
The buyer could buy bonds ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 1 crore. For this he had to give his complete KYC to the bank. It was mandatory for the party to which this bond was donated to get at least 1% votes in the last Lok Sabha or Assembly elections.
Within 15 days of the donor donating the bond, the political party receiving the bond would get it encashed through a bank account verified by the Election Commission. As per rules any Indian can buy it. The identity of the buyer of the bond remains secret. The person buying it also gets tax rebate. These bonds remain valid for 15 days after issuance.
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