Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday referred a batch of pleas challenging the controversial electoral bonds scheme for political funding of parties to a larger Constitution Bench which will hear the case on October 30.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and comprising JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra decided to refer the matter to the Constitution Bench of at least five judges. “In view of the importance of the issue raised, and with regard to Article 145(4) of the Constitution of India, the matter be placed before a bench of at least five judges.
The matter will be retained on October 30, 2023,” the CJI-led bench said. The bench in its previous hearing on October 10 had listed the matter for consideration on October 31. However, considering the the legal issue involved relating to the passage of laws as money bill and upon the petitioners’ request, the court agreed to pass the matter for a larger bench.
The pleas have been pending for six years for now. Through the electoral bonds which were introduced in the Finance Act, 2017, registered political parties that have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the last Lok Sabha or legislative assembly elections are eligible to receive funding.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the petitioner, anonymous funding through electoral bonds promotes corruption and violates the citizens’ right to have a corruption-free nation. It was contended that the identity of the donors could never be known to the public and referred to reservations raised by the Reserve Bank of India and Election Commission to the Scheme.
During the previous hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners said: “This promotes corruption as the source of funding is anonymous, it is violative of Article 21 and the ‘non-decision’ in the case compounding the problem.” In another hearing in March, senior advocate Dushyant Dave had said that the same is an issue that goes to the core of “our democratic existence” and is “serious”. According to one of the petitioners, so far Rs 12,000 crore has been paid to political parties through electoral bonds and the two-third of the amount has gone to one major political party. Follow channel on WhatsApp
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday referred a batch of pleas challenging the controversial electoral bonds scheme for political funding of parties to a larger Constitution Bench which will hear the case on October 30.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and comprising JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra decided to refer the matter to the Constitution Bench of at least five judges. “In view of the importance of the issue raised, and with regard to Article 145(4) of the Constitution of India, the matter be placed before a bench of at least five judges.
The matter will be retained on October 30, 2023,” the CJI-led bench said. The bench in its previous hearing on October 10 had listed the matter for consideration on October 31. However, considering the the legal issue involved relating to the passage of laws as money bill and upon the petitioners’ request, the court agreed to pass the matter for a larger bench.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The pleas have been pending for six years for now. Through the electoral bonds which were introduced in the Finance Act, 2017, registered political parties that have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the last Lok Sabha or legislative assembly elections are eligible to receive funding.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the petitioner, anonymous funding through electoral bonds promotes corruption and violates the citizens’ right to have a corruption-free nation. It was contended that the identity of the donors could never be known to the public and referred to reservations raised by the Reserve Bank of India and Election Commission to the Scheme.
During the previous hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners said: “This promotes corruption as the source of funding is anonymous, it is violative of Article 21 and the ‘non-decision’ in the case compounding the problem.” In another hearing in March, senior advocate Dushyant Dave had said that the same is an issue that goes to the core of “our democratic existence” and is “serious”. According to one of the petitioners, so far Rs 12,000 crore has been paid to political parties through electoral bonds and the two-third of the amount has gone to one major political party. Follow channel on WhatsApp
