A Constitution Bench on October 31 raised the scenario of influential entities covertly setting up persons with verified accounts to purchase electoral bonds for them through the regular banking route in order to curry favour or anonymously enter into a quid pro quo with ruling political parties.
“Suppose ‘A’, a person, purchases electoral bonds worth ₹100 crore. ‘A’ is only put up by ‘B’ for the purchase as he has a [verified or know-your-customer] KYC account. It is ‘B’ who actually gives the donation to the political party… ‘B’ can also be an aggregator of electoral bonds by having a 100 people buy bonds worth ₹1 crore each,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, heading a five-judge Bench, observed orally on the first day of hearing the challenge to the electoral bonds scheme.
