The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the Election Commission of India (EC) two weeks to produce updated data, till September 30, 2023, on contributions received by political parties through the electoral bonds scheme.
Reserving the challenge to the scheme for judgment, a five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said the ultimate purpose of devising a scheme to sanitise the process of political donations is to reduce the infusion of unaccounted cash elements in electoral system, the need to encourage use of authorised banking channels, and bring in transparency.
“You can design another system which does not have the flaws of this system [electoral bonds scheme]... This should not become a legitimisation of kickbacks and quid pro quo between power centres and the people who are benefactors of that power… The purpose of businesses is to carry out business, not to donate to political parties,” Chief Justice Chandrachud addressed the government.
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Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta objected to submissions made by the petitioners that the electoral bonds scheme has only helped in the inflow of black money to fund political parties from anonymous sources.
He said the petitioners, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, were unduly “pessimistic” about the scheme and assured that the government is doing everything in its powers to eradicate black money.
“Digitised payments have increased. We will eradicate black money. Do not be so pessimistic,” Mr. Mehta said. He said that the scheme may not live up to the utopian expectations of the petitioners, but it has, over the years, been successful in disincentivising purely cash-based political donations. Contributions to parties have been largely brought within the banking regime, Mr. Mehta noted.
“Purity of the election process is supreme over the right to vote. Voters’ ballot choices are not based on which party gets funds from whom, but on the ideology, leadership, and efficiency of the party,” Mr. Mehta submitted.
Attorney-General R. Venkataramani said the electoral bonds scheme treats all contributors equally. He emphasised on the aspect of maintaining the confidentiality of the donors to avoid the possibility of reprisals. He argued that moving away from black money to a regulated scheme served the larger public interest.
The Chief Justice agreed that it was not possible to put an absolute bar on cash transactions, which is a “third economy”.
The court said that while the electoral bonds scheme was not much different from the earlier cash-based regime of political donations as far as the anonymity aspect was concerned, it had however brought whatever was contributed in the form of accounted transactions within normal banking channels.
“Earlier regime was purely cash-based. According to you, they have proceeded with the anonymity aspect. But there is one change, electoral bonds have brought whatever is contributed in the form of accounted transactions within normal banking channels,” Chief Justice Chandrachud addressed advocate Prashant Bhushan’s objections on behalf of the petitioners.
