The Supreme Court, in a major decision on Thursday ahead of the Lok Sabha election, struck down the electoral bonds scheme, calling it “unconstitutional”.
Observing that information about funding to political parties is essential for electoral choices, the apex court also directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to not issue any more bonds and submit details of all such bonds purchased since its interim order of April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission. As per the order, bonds which have not been encashed yet with a validity of 15 days will have to be returned by the respective political parties now.
The landmark verdict, coming right before the polls, has huge political ramifications for all parties.
BJP
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has been the biggest recipient of such electoral bonds. It has earned nearly Rs 6,565 crore from electoral bonds between 2017-18 and 2022-23, as per details in the Supreme Court judgement.
Of the Rs 2,360 crore earned by the party in 2022-23, it received Rs 1,294 crore from electoral bonds — nearly 54 per cent of its total income during the year and a 25 per cent jump from Rs 1,033 crore in 2021-22.
As per the latest available data, the party’s spending on ads stood at a massive Rs 432 crore. Its expenditure on press conferences has also gone up from Rs 39.28 lakh in 2021-22 to Rs 71.60 lakh.
Others Hit Too
The second-biggest recipient of electoral bonds — though a distant second — is the Congress. It has received Rs 1122 crore through electoral bonds between 2017-18 and 2022-23. The party, as per its declarations to the Election Commission, received Rs 171 crore in 2022-23. To put things into perspective, such bonds constitute 10 per cent of Congress’ income.
Regional political parties that are in power in states have also been big recipients of electoral bond funds. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, which has been in power in West Bengal since 2011, has declared that it received Rs 1093 crore from 2017-18 till 2022-23 from electoral bonds. This makes it the third-highest recipient in terms of electoral bonds after BJP and Congress.
The Biju Janata Dal of Naveen Patnaik has been in power in Odisha for a long time and received Rs 773 Cr in the same period while MK Stalin’s DMK, which is ruling in Tamil Nadu, received Rs 617 crore between 2017-18 and 2022-23. Even a newer party like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in power in Delhi and Punjab, has received more than Rs 95 crore through this route in the same period.
“It is clear from the available data that majority of contribution through Bonds has gone to political parties which are ruling parties in the Centre and the States. There has also been a substantial increase in contribution/donation through Bonds,” the SC has noted in its judgement.
The Unaffected & What Next?
The left parties CPI and CPI(M) have received no contributions through electoral bonds and have, in fact, been vehemently against the idea. In fact, CPI(M) was a party when it the electoral bonds were challenged in the top court. In a statement in 2018, the party said: “The Electoral Bond is a ripe way to ensure that all kinds of quid-pro-quo arrangements are made by the ruling party with all kinds of entities without any public knowledge or scrutiny.”
Mayawati’s BSP and National People’s Party — the ruling party in Meghalaya — also did not get any funds through this route.
The question that now lingers is what next for political parties? The Centre had pitched bonds as an alternative to cash donations and a way to increase transparency. However, many fear that cash donations will now be back. Earlier, parties had to disclose details of all donors who have contributed more than Rs 20,000.
The deadline given by Supreme Court to SBI to furnish by March 6 all details about sale of electoral bonds, and the deadline to ECI to publish the said information on its website by March 13, could become a major election issue ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in April-May as the donor names and their donations could become public just at the cusp of elections.
Parties could start taking potshots at each other, citing which donor had given the maximum amount of money to other parties, and may allege quid quo pro charges.
The BJP has so far said the electoral bond issue was not about anonymity but confidentiality and privacy, but the opposition could go after the BJP now with the electoral bond scheme being scrapped by a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court.
Congress leaders are already citing how Rahul Gandhi had red-flagged the electoral bond scheme earlier. Given Congress leader Kapil Sibal and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan led the legal battle in the Supreme Court against the government, the political discourse in elections could well revolve around this issue.
The issue of the retrospective disclosure of names of donors may also be raised legally by the affected parties as the donations were made under a guarantee that their privacy will be ensured. Parliament had approved the change in the laws that enabled the scheme. All political parties would be wary of the mud-slinging and allegations that would be coming their way due to such retrospective disclosure of donor names.
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