The electoral bonds scheme proposed by former finance minister Arun Jaitley during the budget session in 2017, has now been substantiated and judged by the Supreme Court today. The scheme allocated unspecified funding to political parties and disrupted the right to information and Article 19(1)(a) of the constitution. Confronting the legal effectiveness of the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme, the Supreme Court was ruling on a batch of pleas.
According to the Supreme Court’s judgement on electoral bonds, the 3 issued guidelines are..
1. All the electoral bonds within the 15-day validity period shall be returned by political parties to the purchasers.
2. The Election Commission of India will make all donations public within one week of the receipt of information.
3. The State Bank of India should stop issuing electoral bonds immediately and submit all details to the ECI by 6th March.
The Central government processed various amendments to the Companies Act, Income Tax Act Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and the Reserve Bank of India Act, to put the scheme into practice. Only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, as per the specification of the scheme.