Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped a seven-year-old election funding system that allows individuals and companies to donate money to political parties anonymously and without any limits.
The decision is seen as a setback for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been the largest beneficiary of the system it introduced in 2017. The system, called ‘Electoral Bonds’, was challenged by opposition members and a civil society group on grounds that it hindered the public’s right to know who had given money to political parties.
Under the system, a person or company can buy these bonds from the state-run State Bank of India and donate them to a political party of their choice.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the system is “unconstitutional”. The court directed SBI to not issue any more of these bonds.
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SC scraps electoral bond scheme, terms it ‘unconstitutional’
