The Supreme Court of India has dismissed a series of petitions seeking a review of its earlier verdict on February 15, which annulled the Modi government’s controversial electoral bonds scheme for anonymous political funding.
A five-judge Constitution bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, ruled that there was no evident error in the original decision, thus rejecting the review pleas without granting an open-court hearing.
The petitioners, including advocate Mathews J Nedumpara, had argued that the matter fell within the domain of legislative and executive policy.
They also contended that the public opinion on the scheme was divided, with many potentially supporting it, and therefore the court should have allowed broader public representation in its proceedings. Despite these arguments, the bench concluded that no grounds for review existed.
In February, the Supreme Court had declared the 2018 electoral bond scheme unconstitutional, stating it violated both the right to freedom of speech and expression and the right to information.
The court noted that the scheme allowed ruling parties to pressure individuals and organisations to contribute anonymously, undermining transparency in political funding.
Additionally, the court directed the State Bank of India (SBI), which oversees the scheme, to submit records of electoral bonds purchased since April 2019 to the Election Commission of India. These records were required to be publicly disclosed on the Election Commission’s website.
While the electoral bonds scheme was initially introduced in 2018 as an effort to reduce cash donations to political parties, it has since sparked significant controversy. Critics, including opposition parties, have called it an “extortion racket”, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has defended the initiative as a measure to enhance transparency in political donations.
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