Electoral Bonds Case: Election Commission Seeks Changes To Supreme Court Order
The case pertains to a legal dispute surrounding the electoral bond scheme introduced by the Union government in 2017.
The Supreme Court's Constitution Bench is again set to hear the electoral bonds case tomorrow. Ahead of this, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has filed a miscellaneous application before the top court.
The purpose of this application is to seek modification of certain orders passed by the court on March 11.
The Supreme Court directed the State Bank of India to provide electoral bond data to the Election Commission of India by March 12. It also instructed the ECI to upload information about political parties' funding through these bonds, which were submitted to the court in sealed covers.
In the application filed, the ECI has requested the court return these sealed cover documents as it hasn't kept any copies to maintain confidentiality. This is to fulfil the court's order and upload the information on its website.
The Supreme Court recently also refused the State Bank of India's request to extend the time for electoral bond information submission till June 30, directing it to provide data to the ECI by March 12. SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara filed a compliance affidavit confirming data submission in two PDF files.
The ECI was to furnish data by March 15 as per the court's direction. However, SBI argued linking donors to political parties was time-consuming, but the Court clarified SBI only needs to disclose information as per the Feb. 15 judgement without any matching exercise.
The case pertains to a legal dispute surrounding the electoral bond scheme introduced by the Union government in 2017, which was notified a year later. The scheme allowed citizens or incorporated entities to purchase bonds and donate them to registered political parties. However, last month, the Supreme Court deemed the scheme unconstitutional in an unanimous ruling.
