New Delhi: A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing petitions challenging the validity of the ‘Electoral Bond’ scheme for political funding of parties from October 31. The ‘Electoral Bond’ scheme was announced on January 2, 2018. Cash donations to parties were introduced as an option as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding.
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According to the provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds can be purchased by a person having Indian citizenship or an organization established in India. A person can purchase it alone or jointly with other persons. Chief Justice D.Y. A bench headed by Chandrachud will hear four petitions, including those filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
Other members of the bench include Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice B. R. Gavi, Justice J. B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra. The Supreme Court said on October 16, “Considering the importance of the issues raised and in the light of Article 145(4) of the Constitution (Rules relating to the functioning of the Supreme Court), the matter is referred to a bench of at least five judges.” will be placed before…”
On October 10, the court noted the arguments of senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO ‘Association for Democratic Rights’ (ADR), that the issue needed to be decided before the launch of the bond scheme for 2024 Lok. There is an assembly election. Bhushan said that benami funding through electoral bonds promotes corruption and violates the rights of citizens of a corruption-free nation.
“As the source of funding remains anonymous, it encourages corruption,” he argued. This violates Article 21 of the Constitution and if no decision is taken on the matter, the problem will escalate rapidly. There are four PILs pending on the issue. One of these petitioners had said in March that Rs 12,000 crore has been disbursed to political parties through electoral bonds so far and two-thirds of this amount has gone to the largest political party.
The apex court on March 21 said it would consider whether the petitions could be referred to a constitution bench for an admissible decision.
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