electoral bonds
Hours after the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Adish C. Aggarwala wrote a letter to President Droupadi Murmu, urging her to intervene on the recent Supreme Court judgment on the electoral bonds scheme to protect the corporate houses who have funded political parties, the Association’s executive committee has issued a statement dissociating itself from the plea.
Aggarwala’s letter seeking presidential intervention to hold back the top court’s order on the electoral bonds case – an unusual move – came across as an attempt to protect the interests of corporates who have contributed funds to political parties. The highest percentage of corporate donations through the scheme was given to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On March 12, the SCBA executive committee, through a resolution, condemned the move and called it an attempt to undermine the Supreme Court’s authority. SCBA honorary secretary Rohit Pandey, in a written resolution of the committee, said the letter appeared to have been written by Aggarwala in his capacity as the chairman of the Association. “However, it is noticed that below his signature on that letter he has inter alia mentioned his designation as president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.”
“Therefore, it has become expedient for the executive committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association to make it abundantly clear that the members of the committee have neither authorised the president to write any such letter nor do they subscribe to his views as expressed therein.”by Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty
14/03/2024
It took the largest bank in the country 17 days, from February 16 to March 3, to figure out that it cannot provide information by March 6 but will be able to provide it only by June 30. https://thewire.in/banking/electoral-bonds-and-the-curious-case-of-sbi-keeping-crucial-data-in-physical-form
The matter now rests with the highest court in the land. It remains to be seen if this momentous judgment is taken to its logical conclusion or will it be a victim of one of the best-known laws of C. Northcote Parkinson – “Delay is the deadliest form of denial”.
05/03/2024
The State Bank of India (SBI) has sought time till June 30 to submit details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties. The deadline is currently March 6.
The Supreme Court on February 15 said that the electoral bond scheme – brought in by the Narendra Modi government in 2017 – is unconstitutional and violates the right to information and Article 19(1)(a). However, the court took years to hear the petitions filed in 2017 and had earlier refused to stay this scheme, meaning that as recently as January this year, hundreds of crores worth of electoral bonds were sold by the State Bank of India.
So who benefitted from this scheme, and from the delayed decision from the court?
In total, including the latest tranche, Rs 16,518.11 crore electoral bonds have been sold by the State Bank of India so far.
The 2019 Lok Sabha elections – the first general election before which electoral bonds were sold – was the most expensive election the world had ever seen until that point, Bloomberg reported. About $8.7 billion was spent by political parties, more than double of what was spent for the 2014 elections.
by Jahnavi Sen
06/03/2024