Electoral bond scheme: Supreme Court to hear petitions seeking SIT probe on July 22

Electoral bond scheme: The Supreme Court will, on July 22, hear petitions demanding a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) under judicial supervision into the alleged scam in political funding using Electoral Bonds.

The apex court had scrapped the scheme on February 15 2024. The Electoral Bond scheme allowed anonymous funding to political parties.

The latest petitions claimed that the electoral bond data which was released on the orders of the Supreme Court, revealed that a bulk of these were given as “quid pro quo” arrangements by corporates to political parties.

The settlements were made for either avoiding actions by central agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax department, or for fiscal gains, the petitions allege.

“The data shows private companies have paid crores of funds to political parties either as ‘protection money’ for protection against agencies under the central government or as a ‘bribe’ in return for undue benefits," said one of the petitioner as reported by Hindustan Times. 

In some instances, it has been seen that the political parties in power at the Centre or in states have apparently amended policies and/or laws to provide benefits to private corporates at the cost of public interest and the public exchequer,” alleged a petitioner.

The bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, took note of the submissions by lawyer Prashant Bhushan, reported The Economic Times. Two NGOs, Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, had approached the top court, which has listed the matter for Monday.

The electoral bond scheme had been scrapped in February 2024 by Supreme Court's five-judge bench including CJI DY Chandrachud, and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra.

The apex court had said that the Scheme violates the right to information (RTI), and can lead to quid pro quo. “Electoral bonds scheme is not the only scheme to curb black money. There are other alternatives," the court had said.