The Top Court issuing an interim order on Tuesday directed all the political parties to submit the details of donors who donated through electoral bonds, amounts received from them, details of payment received on each bond etc. to the Election Commission by May 30. The Highest Court directed all political parties to submit in a ‘sealed cover’ to the Election Commission details of donations received.
However, the Court said that electoral bond will continue and choose not to put any stay on the bonds.
Electoral Bond is used by donors to hide its identity while making a donation to any Political parties. Any person wishes to donate to any political party can be purchased from an authorized bank and can be issued to a political party. The party can encash the bond within 15 days. The identity of the donor will be known only to the bank, which will be kept confidential.
While issuing an interim order, Top Court Judges said, ‘We have examined the matter as well the response filed by the Poll Body. The matter needs hearing and it can’t be concluded in a short span of time’.
Supreme Court asks all political parties who have received donations through Electoral Bonds to submit in sealed cover to the Election Commission details of donations received. pic.twitter.com/cQkKsKntVY
— ANI (@ANI) April 12, 2019
The Top Court issued interim order while hearing petitions against the use of electoral bonds for political funding filed by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms and Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.
The petitioners requested the SC directions to stop the usage of Electoral Bonds and make the system more transparent.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Poll Body on the issue. Responding to the notice, Election Commission had on April 10 submitted before the that they (Poll Body) has no problem in issuing the electoral bonds but they will hamper the anonymity of the donors leading to the reduction in the transparency of the system.
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