Annulling the electoral bonds scheme, the Supreme Court on Thursday said the scheme violated the Constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression and the Right to Information.
The CJI said the scheme is violative of the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. "The electoral bonds scheme and the impugned provisions to the extent that they infringe upon the right to information of the voter by anonymising contribution through electoral bonds are violative of Article 19 (1)(a)," the CJI said while pronouncing the verdict.
Delivering a unanimous verdict on the petitions filed against the scheme, the five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, also directed the State Bank of India to publish the information shared by SBI on its official website by March 13.
Here are the other key observations and directions made by the apex court while delivering the landmark judgements.
1) CJI Chandrachud emphasised the significance of open governance, stating information about the funding of political parties is essential for the effective exercise of the choice of voting.
2) The court said that political contributions increase access for contributors to legislators, which "translates to influence over policymaking". There was also a possibility that the financial contributions to a particular political party would lead to a "quid pro quo arrangement because of the close nexus between money and politics."
3) There are means other than electoral bonds to achieve the purpose of curbing black money, the court said, adding that the infringement of the right to information was not justified.
4) The court held the amendments to the Income Tax Act, the Representation of Peoples Act, and the Companies Act to be unconstitutional.
5) Directions were issued to the SBI to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by the political parties, which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of the electoral bond.
6) Electoral Bonds within the validity period of 15 days which have not been encashed yet should be returned to the purchaser. The issuing bank shall then refund the amount to the purchaser's account.
