There will be no SIT investigation of the electoral bond scheme, Supreme Court dismissed all petitions
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected several petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the electoral bond scheme. There will be no SIT investigation in this case now. The court said that it is not appropriate to accept the petition as per the existing rules. The petitioners can go to the High Court. The petition alleged benefits to companies in exchange for donations. The Electoral Bond Scheme was cancelled by the Supreme Court on February 15. Because political donations were completely anonymised in it.
During the hearing, petitioner’s lawyer Prashant Bhushan said that this case is like the Hawala scandal, coal scam. Not only political parties but also major investigating agencies are involved in these cases. It is one of the worst financial scams in the history of the country.
The CDI said follow the normal process. We have ordered disclosure. We have reached a certain point. Where we have cancelled the scheme. Bhushan said that governments are involved in this, the ruling party is involved, top corporate houses are involved. Prashant Bhushan argued that in some cases CBI officials are also involved, their role should be investigated.
Hearing on petition related to electoral bonds
The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition related to electoral bonds, had questioned the Election Commission about this data. After this, the Election Commission told that it does not have information about the data. After this, the bench headed by the Chief Justice had directed to return the data from the registry of the Supreme Court. The Election Commission had provided information to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope in 2019 and 2023. On March 14, the apex court had made public another information related to electoral bonds on its website. It had two lists of 763 pages, one of which had information about those who bought the bonds while the other had information about those who redeemed the bonds. In 2022-23, all major parties except BJP received less donations.
What is electoral bond?
Through electoral bonds, any institution or company or individual can donate money to a political party. Electoral bonds are available in various denominations. The identity of the buyers is kept secret. Any political party can redeem the bonds within 15 days of receiving them. These bonds can be given only to registered political parties.
