A day after the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme – on grounds it violated citizens’ right to information, was unconstitutional, and may lead to quid pro quo arrangements between political parties and donors – the government has said it is “studying” the order.
Sources told NDTV the government is weighing options and will not, at this stage, move to overrule the country’s highest court, like it did in December when it passed a bill – with most opposition leaders suspended – to establish a new mechanism to appoint members of the Election Commission.
Sources also said the government is concerned about the return of black money, and had further noted that revealing donors’ identities – as instructed by the court – is “against laws of banking”.
Electoral bonds, sources said, were brought in to “reduce magnitude of black money” before 2017 and were to move the landscape of political funding “from a murky situation to a better system”.
The other model – under which trusts distribute contributions received by companies and individuals to political parties – “has been studied in the past, but its challenges were too many”, sources added.
The electoral bonds scheme was meant to “give comfort to donors”, government sources said.
This comes after top BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the bonds were part of his party’s “sincere efforts to make elections transparent”, but that it would also respect the court’s order.
Prasad, however, reserved further comment, pointing to the extensive final order (which runs into hundreds of pages) and stating it required study before the BJP decided its next course.
On Thursday a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said the scheme could not compensate for its drawbacks. Electoral bonds, the court said, could not be the only way to curb black money. The landmark order came just weeks before a general election.
The court ordered the State Bank of India to stop issuing bonds and provide details of donations made to the Election Commission, which was told to publish the data on its website by March 13.
With inputs from NDTV