India’s Supreme Court orders state bank of India to share names of political donors
New Delhi, INDIA (EFE) – India’s top court gave an ultimatum to government-run State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday to reveal anonymous donations made to political parties through an opaque funding system in the last five years.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ordered the bank to disclose the information “by the close of business hours” on Mar. 12, thus rejecting SBI’s request to publish details by Jun. 30.
The judge ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI), the body in charge of conducting and regulating elections in the country, to compile the details disclosed by the bank and publish it on its website “no later than by 5 pm on Mar. 14.”
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The verdict comes almost a month after the apex court struck down the so-called electoral bonds scheme, as “unconstitutional” as it permitted anonymous funding to political parties.
The scheme, introduced by the Narendra Modi government in 2018, allowed individuals and companies to purchase these electoral bonds issued only by the SBI.
Donors used these bonds to fund political parties of their choice.
Before 2018, political parties were required to disclose the identity of donors contributing more than 20,000 Indian rupees ($242).
The contentious scheme allowed them to reveal the amount received in electoral bonds but not the identity of the donor.
During the hearing on Feb.15, the court criticized the scheme for allowing “unlimited corporate funding to political parties,” describing it as “arbitrary and violative” of the Indian constitution.
The court had ordered SBI to submit details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 2019 to the ECI by Mar. 6.
The bank, however, sought more time from the court, stating it had to decode and compile the data of over 22,200 electoral bonds purchased by the donors and encashed by the parties.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms, an independent election watchdog, Indian political parties received over 165 billion rupees in election funding from March 2018 to January 2024.
That decision was a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been the largest beneficiary of the system introduced in 2017, and came ahead of a national election expected to be held in April or May.
SBI had been asked to share names of the donors, the beneficiaries and the amounts with the independent Election Commission of India (ECI) by March 6 and the poll panel was directed to make it public by March 13.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received 66 billion rupees, or 55 percent of the total, from electoral bonds. In all, more than 121 billion Indian rupees worth of electoral bonds were sold until 2023.
The opposition Indian National Congress received less than 10 percent of the total funds in the five years, amounting to around 11 billion rupees, as per audited reports cited by the watchdog.
The BJP has staunchly defended the electoral bond system, arguing that it eliminates the possibility of funneling unaccounted cash into India’s political system.
However, rights groups have often noted that the alleged nexus between politics and business poses a significant challenge to democracy.
India is expected to hold general elections in either April or May, the largest in the world with some 960 million voters, where Modi is seen as an overwhelming favorite to win his third consecutive term. EFE