NGO moves SC seeking stay on electoral bonds

NEW DELHI: An NGO Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking an urgent stay on the issue of fresh electoral bonds, alleging that this instrument for political donation had heightened the opacity surrounding funding of election expenses.

Over Rs 6,000 crore electoral bonds have been sold so far, the Association for Democratic Reforms said in the petition. There has been no scrutiny at the time of encashing those, nor compliance by political parties about prompt reporting of the receipt of the bonds, it alleged.

“… in this new era of financial transparency and accountability, electoral bonds have emerged as a vital instrument to … encourage opacity by not only opening the floodgates of indefinite and mysterious donations but also legitimising illicit money in our electoral and political process,” the petition said.


Even unregistered parties and those ineligible, for not having won even 1% of votes in an election, had received such funding, the petition claimed. The instrument has a major negative implication on transparency in political funding and is in violation of citizens’ right to information, a fundamental right, it alleged.

The petition filed by activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan is expected to be mentioned before a bench led by the Chief Justice early next week.


Notings of the finance ministry show that electoral bonds provide no details to the public about who makes the donation to which party, but the anonymity does not apply to the government of the day which can always access donor details by demanding the data from State Bank of India, the petition said.