A five-judge bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra delivered a unanimous verdict on Thursday, striking down the Electoral Bonds scheme as unconstitutional.
The bench was ruling on a batch of pleas challenging the legal validity of the Central government’s Electoral Bonds Scheme, which allows for anonymous funding to political parties.
“Financial contributions to political parties are made for two parties – for support to political party, or contribution may be way of quid pro quo,” the bench added.
The court addressed the issue of electoral bonds within the validity period of 15 days that remain not encashed by political parties. It mandated that these bonds should be returned and refunded to the purchasers. The process involves the initiating bank refunding the purchasing party after the unencashed bonds are returned.
The other important aspects of the verdict include:
— SBI shall submit information about electoral bonds to Election Commission by March 6, 2024, says SC.
— SBI must disclose details of each electoral bond enchased by political parties, including date of encashment, denomination.
— Election Commission shall publish on its official website by March 13 information shared by SBI.