SC strikes down India's electoral bonds scheme 2018 as ‘unconstitutional’

In a unanimous verdict, a 5-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday struck down the electoral bonds scheme 2018 as unconstitutional.

Saying that financial contribution to a political party may potentially lead to quid pro quo arrangements, the judgment authored by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said the electoral bonds scheme by anonymising contributions to the political parties infringe upon the right to information of the voter provided under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Asking the State Bank of India (SBI) to forthwith stop the issuance of electoral bonds, CJI Chandrachud ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish on its official website by March 13 the details of the political parties which have received contributions through electoral bonds since April 2019.

CJI Chandrachud’s opinion, concurred by Justices B.R. Gavai, J.B. Padriwala and Manoj Misra, added that the infringement of the right to information of voters cannot be justified for the purpose of curbing black money in the electoral process.

"The right to information under Article 19(1)(a) can only be restricted based on the ground stipulated in Article 19(2). The purpose of curbing black money is not traceable to any of the grounds in Article 19(2),” the top court said.

Further, it said that the electoral bond scheme is "not the only means for curbing black money” in electoral financing and there are other alternatives which substantially fulfill the purpose and impact the right to information minimally when compared to the impact of electoral bonds on the right to information.

The Congress on Thursday welcomed the revocation of the contentious electoral bonds by the Supreme Court and said that today's judgment vindicates their long fight against the 'unconstitutional and unlawful' scheme which the NDA government brought and 'misused to fill its coffers for electoral gains.'

Congress in a press statement asserted about its seven year long battle against the 'coercive and corporatised' scheme, inside and outside the Parliament and said that it was the first party to condemn the bonds scheme, in clear and unequivocal terms.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to his X account to denounce the bonds scheme as Modi government's 'ploy' to gain political mileage over rivals by 'monopolising' the electoral funding by big players.

Top court in its judgement said, "There is also a legitimate possibility that financial contribution to a political party would lead to quid pro quo arrangements because of the closed nexus between money and politics."

The Supreme Court held it "manifestly arbitrary” to permit unlimited political contribution by the companies.

Indo-Asian News service