New Delhi: The Supreme Court's decision to strike down the electoral bond scheme will help bring transparency in political funding and protect the interest of people, Congress leader Jaya Thakur, who had challenged the scheme in the apex court, said on Thursday.
In a widely anticipated verdict, the apex court said the electoral bonds scheme violates the right to information and the freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution. It also ordered the State Bank of India to disclose to the Election Commission the names of the contributors to the six-year-old scheme.
"Those who were donating money through electoral bonds were not disclosing their names. Somewhere they would want favours from the government... This verdict will make a difference. It will protect the interest of people," Thakur told PTI Videos after the verdict.
Advocate Varun Thakur, who represented her in the case, described the ruling as a historical step for democracy.
"This is a major setback for the government because the SC has directed to disclose all transactions between 2019-24. It has also directed the SBI to submit a full report to the Election Commission. And it has also directed the Election Commission to disclose that report within a week.
"So this is a very big setback... the way donations were being taken off the record. Now accountability will be fixed: whether policies have been formed to favour those who have donated. The public has the right to know this... We can say that democracy has won today."
He said the government can now either revert to the schemes that were earlier in place for political funding or bring in a new scheme. He said companies running in losses were also making donations and people have the right to know how that happened, he said.
Congress welcomes SC ruling
Congress welcomed the SC verdict and said it would reinforce the power of votes over notes. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, The Supreme Court has held the much-touted Electoral Bonds scheme of the Modi Sarkar as violative of both laws passed by Parliament as well as the Constitution of India.
The long-awaited verdict is hugely welcome and will reinforce the power of votes over notes, he said. The Modi Sarkar has been inflicting ANYAY upon ANYAY on the Annadatas while privileging the Chandadatas, Ramesh said.
“We also hope that the Supreme Court will take note that the Election Commission has been consistently refusing to even meet political parties on the issue of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). If everything is transparent in the voting process then why this obstinacy?” he said.
CPM says SC verdict upheld their contention
CPM national general secretary Sitaram Yechury also expressed happiness over the most-awaited judgement of the Supreme Court.
“A welcome verdict! Glad that this unanimous verdict of the Supreme Court bench has upheld our contention. Congratulations to our Counsel Shadan Farasat and others who effectively argued the case,” Yechury wrote on the social media platform 'X'
Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi termed the verdict a “great boon for democracy”.
"This will restore people's faith in democracy. This is the greatest thing that could have happened. This is the most historic judgement that we have got from the Supreme Court in the last five or seven years. It is a great boon for democracy," Quraishi told PTI Videos.
"We were all concerned for the last so many years. Everyone who loves democracy was protesting about it. I myself wrote several articles and spoke to the media many times. And every issue that we raised has been tackled in the judgment," he said.
The scheme, which was notified by the government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding.
