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.
Highlights of SC verdict in electoral bonds scheme case
PTI
Updated: February 15, 2024 20:49 IST
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
