NEW DELHI, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- In a key judgement most likely to affect the general elections, due in the next two months, the country's apex court the Supreme Court of India on Thursday declared the electoral bonds scheme as "unconstitutional".
The five-judge bench delivered the judgement while hearing a bunch of pleas, over a period of three days, challenging the controversial electoral bonds scheme introduced seven years ago.
The apex court directed the State Bank of India (SBI) not to issue any more electoral bonds.
India's general elections are due in April-May.
The electoral bonds scheme was a method of political funding that had been under scrutiny since its inception. It allowed the purchase of bonds at any SBI branch in multiples of 1,000 Indian Rupees, 10,000 Indian Rupees, 100,000 Indian Rupees, 1 million Indian Rupees and 10 million Indian Rupees.
The topmost court ordered the SBI to provide the Election Commission of India (ECI) with detailed records of all electoral bond contributions received by political parties from the scheme's interim order in 2019 till date.
The ECI is expected to receive comprehensive data from the SBI within three weeks. Thereafter, under instructions from the Supreme Court, the ECI shall publish these details on its official website, ensuring transparency and public access to the information. ■
