The long wait for the final judicial say on the electoral bonds is over. The Supreme Court has belatedly set aside the electoral bonds scheme. The scheme was flawed from the beginning. The electoral bonds were a fraud on democracy done through a parliamentary process. The Electoral bonds created a skewed playing field for political parties. The SC judgement may have great implications for the future in political funding and electoral transparency, but the damage has been done. The electoral bonds disrupted the level playing field in the land of elections for a period long enough to have long term impact on the democracy.
The Supreme Court decision on electoral bonds may have the impact of the highest court redeeming its honour and prestige. However the long delay in sleeping over a matter of such magnitude shows the highest court in poor light. The principles of transparency in corporate funding of parties was a matter that demanded a hearing with alacrity. It is strange that neither the civil society nor the legal fraternity has questioned the Supreme Court looking the other way for a period of over half a decade on issues which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had heavily invested in building his image. The Citizenship Amendment Act which injected religion into the citizenship by filtering out Muslims from Sri Lanka, China and Burma is not yet taken up for hearing. A few days back the Chief Justice of India while dealing with appointment of judges spoke about ‘approval by silence’.
The laws which undermined the constitutional principles and destabilized democracy itself were challenged immediately but the highest court ‘temporarily approved that by its silence’. Meanwhile the damage is done and continues to be done. The principal argument of the government about the electoral bonds is that the citizens have no business to know as to who funds the political parties. The highest law officer of the country did not represent the country but the ruling party in the matter of electoral bonds. He was brazen before the highest court when he told citizens need not know which corporates pay how much and to which party i.e. the highest court was told that donors have right of privacy and the citizens have no right to know. There was no outrage from the legal fraternity and the bench heard him silently. The society has not reacted... may be it is civil society’s approval by silence. The electoral bonds law made changes to the Companies Act, Income Tax Act, Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and the Election Commission’s regulations which has already created an irreversible impact on the political system in the country.
Though the Reserve Bank of India and Election Commission of India, independent institutions had objected but the government went ahead and came out with the fraudulent scheme which has permanently damaged the level playing field in the electoral scene. The parliament saw merit in an opaque system of election funding and the Supreme Court not granting a hearing has created a situation of fait accompli.
The bonds introduced in 2017 helped 2018 state elections, the 2019 general elections and elections thereafter. The minimum that was expected was that the issue could be addressed in the run up to 2024 elections. Despite the matter being heard and closed for orders, 29 branches of State Bank of India in as many states sold electoral bonds from Nov 6 to Nov 20. The bonds purchased in the semifinal round of the electoral race were on sale till now. Just last month between October 4 to October 10, bonds worth Rs1,148 crores were sold through 14 branches of SBI thus institutionalizing political corruption through corporate donations. An election watch dog Association for Democratic Rights tells us that 90% of the corporate donations were cornered by the BJP. Of the Rs 680.49 crore BJP got whopping Rs 610.49 crore in 2022-2023. The total donations declared by the two main national parties for 2022-2023 was BJP Rs 719.85 crore and Congress Rs. 79.92 crore. Their share has been increasing over the long period. As ruling party their share is bound to increase and the opposition's may fall particularly when the opposition is not seen to be in power in the near future. A citizen has to know from which business house how much funds come for a party in order to permit a calculated decision by the voter.
This opaque scheme brought in our country is totally different from the other democratic world. A democracy works well when the system is fair and transparent. A opaque system facilitating anonymity to corporate houses to back the party in power can never provide a level playing field in the democratic set up.
Political thinkers have discussed the Teflon coat of the Prime Minister’s image and the ruling parties incredible election machinery but the role played by the electoral bonds in creating and unprecedented amount of funds available to the ruling party has not been discussed.
Some time back the PM claimed that Karnataka has provided some breather to the Congress. The fact of the matter is the ruling party has unlimited funding’s through the bonds. It has to be placed on record that both Reserve Bank of India and the Election Commission of India had opposed the bonds and both the institutions were overruled for creating this unparalleled reservoir of funds for the ruling party.
Thousands of crores received from corporate bodies, money launderers and contractors under an opaque system of political bribes as there was no audit trail as the corporate houses could anonymously bribe the party in power and strike deals. That was the essence of the opposition which ought to have been felt at the time the scheme was challenged. The beneficiary of the unconstitutional scheme shall enjoy the benefits of thousands of crores of rupees which have not been ordered to be refunded. as the scheme is set aside, giving the ruling BJP the last laugh.
