ELECTORAL BOND AND DECISION OF SUPREME COURT
In a momentous ruling, the Supreme Court unanimously declared the electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional. The five-judge panel, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, concluded that the scheme's allowance of anonymous funding to political parties violated both Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and citizens' right to information. As part of its decision, the court issued three directives: all political parties must return any electoral bonds within their 15-day validity period; donations made through electoral bonds must be made public within one week of receipt by the Election Commission of India (ECI); and finally, State Bank of India (SBI) should immediately cease issuing electoral bonds and provide all relevant details to ECI by March 6th.
WHAT IS THIS SCHEME?
The electoral bond scheme was initially proposed during former finance minister Arun Jaitley's announcement in the 2017 Budget Session. Later in January 2018, it was officially recognized as a source for political funding via money bills amending Finance Act and Representation of People Act laws. To implement this new system, certain amendments were also carried out on Companies Act, Income Tax Act Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), and Reserve Bank of India Act regulations.
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