- Supreme Court orders bond details
- Electoral system deemed unconstitutional
- BJP received almost half donations
A month prior to the country’s general election, the State Bank of India (SBI) was ordered by the Supreme Court of India to disclose every detail of electoral bonds, including the unique codes that link donors to political parties.
In India, the “electoral bonds” election funding system, which was in operation for seven years, permitted corporations and individuals to contribute to political parties without restriction or identification.
In February, the highest court deemed the opaque system “unconstitutional” and discarded it.
The Supreme Court issued an order on Monday requiring the SBI to furnish the Election Commission of India with the unique identification numbers of the bonds by Thursday. This is necessary in order to facilitate the matching of donors and recipients.
“You are required to reveal every detail… “It must be resolved definitively,” said Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.
The commission made public some information regarding contributions made through the funding mechanism since April 2019. According to the data, several prominent Indian corporations, including Vedanta Ltd, Bharti Airtel, RPSG Group, and Essel Mining, were among the leading contributors to political causes during the previous five years.
However, the data from last week failed to establish a connection between donors and recipients. However, it did indicate that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, received almost half of all donations. Modi is scheduled to run for a rare third term in the seven-phase election commencing on April 19.
In India, corporate financing of political parties is a contentious issue. Critics assert that by using electoral bonds, corporations were able to conceal their contributions in order to evade allegations of favouritism from the governing BJP party in India.
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At a rally in Mumbai on Sunday, the leader of the principal opposition Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, accused the government of Narendra Modi of extorting money from corporations using electoral bonds; the government has denied this allegation.
In the interim, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), the Confederation of Indian Industry, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry attempted to obstruct the court’s disclosure of donor information to political parties.
“ASSOCHAM stated, “Protection of anonymity is crucial for safeguarding the privacy of donors and preventing any opposition from political factions that corporations do not fund.”
