New Delhi: Lifting the veil of anonymity from the government’s controversial political funding scheme, the Supreme Court on Friday directed all parties which have received donations through electoral bonds to submit to the Election Commission details of donors and amount received by May 30.
The court, however, refused to stay the scheme in the middle of the national election.
“The court has to ensure that any interim arrangement that may be made would not tilt the balance in favour of either of the parties but that the same ensures adequate safeguards against the competing claims of the parties which are yet to be adjudicated,” it said.
The bench directed parties to give, in sealed letters, particulars of donations received as against each bond, the amount of each such bond and the full particulars of the credit received against each bond, namely, the particulars of the bank account to which the amount has been credited and the date of each such credit.
Ignoring the Centre’s plea opposing the court’s intervention, a three-judge headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi passed the interim order on petitions filed by Association of Democrat-ic Rights, the CPM and others challenging the validity of these bonds.
The bench, including Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said it will accord an in-depth hearing on April 15 to the pleas of the NGO and the CPM as they and the Centre and the EC have also raised “weighty issues” having “tremendous bearing on the sanctity of the electoral process”. The court also directed the finance ministry to reduce the period of donations through such bonds from 55 days to 50 days in a year.
