Anushka Sharma-
Published On: October 05, 2021 at 14:48 IST
The Supreme Court said that it may not be able to hear the Electoral Poll Bond Case before the Dussehra break which starts after October 8.
The Pending challenge is against the government’s Electoral Bond Scheme and Amendments to the Finance Act, 2017, which permits donations from Individuals as well as Foreign Companies to any Political Party without any record of the source of funding.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan made an urgent oral Plea before the Bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana.
The Advocate mentioned that the Petition is listed for October 8 and should be heard that day.
The Chief Justice, however, expressed concerns about whether the Bench would be able to hear the case on the said date as it is the last day before the Court closes for Dussehra Break.
Although, the Advocate also said that the Court decides on the said date itself when the case is called.
The NGO which filed the Plea in 2017 had mentioned in its application that there is a serious apprehension that any further sale of Electoral Bonds before the upcoming Assembly Elections would further increase “Illegal and Illicit Funding of Political Parties through shell companies.”
It had also alleged that, as per data on Electoral Bonds declared by Political Parties in their Audit Reports for 2017-18 and 2018-19, the “ruling party had received more than 60 percent of the total Electoral Bonds issued till date.”
The Government has justified the Electoral Bonds Scheme as an initiative to promote transparency in funding received by Political Parties.
The Government’s lengthy Affidavit said, “They [bonds] can be enchased by an eligible political party only through its bank accounts with the authorised bank. The bonds do not have the name of the donor or the receiving political party and only carry a unique hidden alphanumeric serial number as an in-built security feature.”
It also described this reform as a step closer to a “cashless-digital economy.”
The Election Commission of India had also filed an Affidavit in 2019 which said that the electoral bond scheme had legalised anonymity for political funding.
Electoral bonds protect the identities of political donors who contribute less than 20,000 rupees, and hence they do not need to provide their identity details.
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