SC breaks the electoral bond

Secret funding of polls called unconstitutional

- ANANTHAKRISHNAN G

IN A HISTORIC verdict barely weeks before the Lok Sabha polls are set to be notified, the Supreme Court struck down Thursday the Narendra Modi government's 2018 electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding.

Highlighting that "the information about funding to a political party is essential for a voter to exercise their freedom to vote in an effective manner", a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, said that changes made in the laws to implement the scheme were unconstitutional.

Holding the scheme "violative" of the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression and right to information, the court did not agree with the Centre's contention that it was meant to bring about transparency and curb black money in political funding.

In its two separate but unanimous verdicts spanning 232 pages, the court also directed the SBI, the authorised financial institution underthe scheme, to submit by March 6 the details of electoral bonds purchased since April 12,2019 till date to the Election Commission which will publish the information on its official website by March 13.