Hello, readers. In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme, calling it "unconstitutional". A five-judge bench had reserved its verdict in November last year.
On the Supreme Court's verdict on the Electoral Bond scheme, CPI(M) Secretary-General Sitaram Yechury says, "CPM was the only petitioner, the only political party who had the locus-standi to argue against the electoral bonds. As a matter of principle, we are the only party which did not accept electoral bonds. We consider electoral bonds as a legalisation of political corruption... Nevertheless, it is a welcome judgement. There's a possibility of quid-pro-quo, which means deal-breaking. This has exposed this government's claims of fighting corruption..."
Delivering a historic judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the Electoral Bonds Scheme, the Supreme Court on Thursday held it "unconstitutional" and violative of the Right to Information and Article 19(1)(a). Two separate but unanimous verdicts were delivered by a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.
On the Supreme Court's verdict on the Electoral Bond scheme, Congress MP Manish Tiwari says, "SC decision should be welcomed by all right-minded people who believe in probity in public life... Supreme court ordering the SBI, the operator of Electoral Bonds Scheme to provide all the data to the Election Commission and the EC to publish it on its website is a welcome decision..."
"The consequences of that (SC judgement) are mind boggling for the simple reason that all the money that political parties have received and amongst political parties the BJP has received the maximum amount of money...obviously, since the scheme has been struck down...it has huge implications," Kapil Sibal said.