What is the electoral bond scheme, which was canceled by SC?
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has given a historic verdict on electoral bonds and canceled it. The Supreme Court has clearly said in its decision that electoral bonds are unconstitutional and there is no transparency in this entire system. Along with this, the court has ordered that State Bank of India, the bank selling electoral bonds, should share all the information with the Election Commission within three weeks. For this the court has given three weeks time to the bank.
RBI and Election Commission were against the bond
Along with this, the selling of court bonds has also been banned. The court also directed the Election Commission to collect information from the bank and share all the information on its website by March 31. Let us tell you that the Commission was also against it regarding electoral bonds. Whereas the central bank RBI has been opposing it. But the central government believed that this was the right medium to donate to political parties.
What is electoral bond scheme?
The central government had implemented this scheme from January 2, 2018. Under this scheme, any citizen of India could buy it from the branch of State Bank of India. Along with this, any person can buy electoral bonds either singly or jointly with other persons. Such political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 are eligible for electoral bonds. The only condition is that they should have got at least one percent votes in the last Lok Sabha or Assembly elections. Electoral Bonds shall be encashed by an eligible political party only through its account with an authorized bank.
100% exemption in income tax was available on the amount donated
SBI sells these bonds in denominations of Rs 1,000, 10,000, 1 lakh, 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore. Along with this, the donor used to get 100% income tax exemption on the donated amount. Along with this, in this rule, political parties were exempted from the fact that they can keep the name and identity of the donor secret. Along with this, whichever party has received these bonds, they have to cash them within a stipulated time.
The hearing in the court lasted for three days
Opposition to electoral bonds started after they became legal. Many other NGOs including the Congress Party had filed a petition against it in the Supreme Court. The hearing in this case started on October 31. After three days of continuous hearing, the court had reserved its decision on November 2, 2023. Now while giving the verdict today, the electoral bond scheme itself has been declared illegal.
What will happen next now?
After the court ban on electoral bonds, now the question arises that what will happen next? The court has said in its order that SBI will now have to share information about all the bonds sold with the Election Commission. For this the court has given three weeks time to the bank. The Supreme Court has also given guidelines to the Election Commission in this matter. As per the court order, after receiving the information from the bank, the Election Commission will also have to share all the information on its website by March 31.
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