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News: Chief Justice of India N V Ramana has assured petitioners that the Supreme Court will take up for hearing a pending plea challenging the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018. No date or any timeline has been specified, though.
Two NGOs — Common Cause and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) — have challenged the scheme, alleging that it is “distorting democracy”.
What was the situation prior to the introduction of electoral bonds in India?
The electoral bonds scheme was first mentioned in 2017 when then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented it as a way to reform electoral funding in the country.
Until then, most political parties used to bypass scrutiny of their finances by claiming that they received most of their donations in cash.
Further, since cash amounts less than Rs 20,000 were exempted from scrutiny, parties routinely claimed that most of the donations they received were in cash and in amounts less than Rs 20,000. This led to channelisation of black money into political parties.
To read in detail about Electoral bonds – Click here
Source: This post is based on the article “Court must settle challenge to the electoral bonds scheme quickly. The sanctity of elections is at stake” published in The Indian Express on 11th Apr 22.
