Plea in SC seeks review of order rejecting seizure of electoral bond funds
The petitioner has contended that the transactions were part of a quid pro quo arrangement between corporate donors and political parties.
A review petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday against its August 2 order refusing to direct authorities to recover funds that political parties had received through electoral bonds, reported Live Law.
The petition was filed by an advocate named Khem Singh Bhati, who contended that the electoral bond transactions were part of a quid pro quo arrangement.
Bhati alleged that through the scheme, benefits were exchanged between political parties and corporate donors.
He urged the Supreme Court to direct the Union government, the Election Commission and the Central Vigilance Committee to confiscate the amount political parties received through the scheme.
The advocate has also sought the formation of a committee led by a former Supreme Court judge to probe the alleged illegal benefits provided to donors by political parties.
In August, a three-judge bench headed by former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had refused to set up a Special Investigation Team to probe alleged instances of quid pro quo arrangements through the bonds.
Electoral bonds were monetary instruments that citizens or corporate groups could buy from the State Bank of India and give to a political party, which would then redeem them. The scheme was introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre in January 2018.
The entire process was anonymous as buyers were not required to declare their purchase of these interest-free bonds and political parties did not need to show the source of the money. The Centre, however, had access to information about the donors as it controls the State Bank of India.
The State Bank of India was authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through 29 authorised branches.
In February, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional, holding that it violated the right to information, freedom of speech and could lead to quid pro quo arrangements between donors and political parties.
An analysis of electoral bond data revealed that the ruling BJP had received bulk of the donations made through the anonymous scheme.
Read more analysis on this topic by Project Electoral Bond, a collaborative project involving Scroll, The News Minute, Newslaundry and freelance journalists.
