electoral bond scheme Hearing petitions challenging the validity of electoral bonds, the Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission of India to submit the latest data of funds received by all political parties through electoral bonds by September 30. The Supreme Court asked the Election Commission to give the data to the court in a sealed packet within two weeks. The Supreme Court has reserved its decision in this matter.
Supreme Court reserved the decision
On November 2, the Supreme Court completed the hearing on the petitions challenging the electoral bond scheme but reserved its decision. It is noteworthy that the Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had started the final hearing on the petitions challenging the election bonds on October 31, which was completed today.
BJP tops in receiving funds from electoral bond scheme
Since the inception of the electoral bond scheme, the maximum amount of money has gone to BJP’s account in the last five years. According to the information given to the Election Commission by political parties, 57 percent of the total amount received through bonds has gone to BJP’s account. The party has received Rs 5,271.97 crore through electoral bonds between 2017-2022, while the Congress has received Rs 952.29 crore and is second among parties receiving donations through electoral bonds. The Election Commission had not presented the report for the year 2022-2023, which the Supreme Court had demanded during the hearing.
What is electoral bond?
The central government had launched the electoral bond scheme in 2018. Its objective was to bring transparency in the donations received by political parties. Any person or organization can donate funds to any political party through electoral bonds, but their identity will not be with the bank. Electoral bonds can be purchased from the bank. Also, whichever party gets that electoral bond, it will be able to encash it in any branch of the bank only.