New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) Following are the highlights of the judgement by a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court which on Thursday scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, terming it "unconstitutional".
* CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justice Sanjiv Khanna write separate but concurring verdicts.
* SC holds electoral bonds scheme is violative of Article 19(1)(a) and unconstitutional.
* SC directs disclosure of information on contributions received by political parties under the scheme.
* SC directs that State Bank of India shall herewith stop the issuance of electoral bonds.
* SC says SBI shall submit details of electoral bonds purchased since the April 12, 2019 interim order of the apex court till date to the Election Commission.
* SC says details shall include date of purchase of each electoral bond, name of the purchaser and the denomination of electoral bond purchased.
* SC says SBI must disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties which shall include the date of encashment and denomination.
* SC directs SBI to submit these information to the EC by March 6.
* SC says EC shall publish information shared by SBI on its official website by March 13.
* It says electoral bonds which are within the validity period of 15 days but which have not been encashed by the political party yet, shall be returned to the issuing bank.
* Apex court says the bank, upon the return of a valid bond, shall refund the amount to the purchaser's account.
* It holds that electoral bonds scheme was not fool-proof and that information about funds received by a political party is essential for voters to exercise their freedom to vote effectively.
* SC says democracy does not begin and end with elections and the integrity of election process is pivotal for sustaining the democratic form of government.