LI Network
Published on: February 15, 2024 at 16:30 IST
In a significant development, the Supreme Court has instructed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish comprehensive details regarding the electoral bonds encashed by political parties.
This decision comes as part of the court’s ruling that declared the Electoral Bonds scheme unconstitutional.
The key directions issued by the court are as follows:
A. The State Bank of India (SBI), the issuing bank, is directed to cease the issuance of electoral bonds.
B. The SBI is required to provide the ECI with a detailed report on electoral bonds purchased from the date of the court’s interim order on April 12, 2019, until the present date. This report should include the date of purchase for each electoral bond, the name of the purchaser, and the denomination of each electoral bond.
C. The SBI is further mandated to furnish the ECI with details of political parties that have received contributions through electoral bonds since the interim order on April 12, 2019. The information should encompass each electoral bond encashed by political parties, specifying the date of encashment and the denomination of the electoral bond.
D. The SBI is instructed to submit the aforementioned information to the ECI within three weeks, by March 6.
E. The ECI, in turn, is directed to publish the information received from the SBI on its official website by March 13, 2024.
F. Electoral Bonds still within the 15-day validity period, yet to be encashed by political parties, are to be returned to the purchaser by the political party. The issuing bank will then refund the amount to the purchaser’s account.
The five-judge panel, comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, delivered this judgment in response to a batch of writ petitions filed by entities such as the Association for Democratic Reforms, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Dr. Jaya Thakur.