Political Parties Bound To Disclose Details Of Electoral Bonds Donors As Per Supreme Court's 2019 & 2023 Orders
The Supreme Court, in its order passed in 2019 and repeated in 2023, directed the parties to disclose the donor details to the ECI.
The Supreme Court on Monday (March 18) categorically stated that the State Bank of India has to disclose the unique alphanumeric numbers associated with Electoral Bonds, which will help in matching the purchasers of the bonds with the political parties which redeemed them.The Court was compelled to make this clarification after the SBI last week published the details of donors and parties...
The Supreme Court on Monday (March 18) categorically stated that the State Bank of India has to disclose the unique alphanumeric numbers associated with Electoral Bonds, which will help in matching the purchasers of the bonds with the political parties which redeemed them.
The Court was compelled to make this clarification after the SBI last week published the details of donors and parties without the bond numbers. Since the Court struck down the anonymous electoral bonds scheme on the ground that it infringed the fundamental right of a voter under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution to know the source of political funding, meaningful compliance with the judgment would require publishing all details which will help the voters to enjoy such right. It is laudable that the Supreme Court made a timely intervention to direct the SBI to disclose the bond numbers, thereby ensuring that its judgment would not remain a dead letter.
However, even without the unique numbers, the voters would have got the information of the donors, had the political parties complied with the earlier interim orders passed by the Supreme Court. On April 12, 2019, the Court, through an interim order, directed the political parties to share the details of the electoral bond donations with the Election Commission of India and the ECI in turn was directed to submit those details before the Supreme Court in sealed boxes. Last year, the Court reiterated this direction to the ECI, asking it to submit the details of electoral bond donations received by parties till September 30, 2023, again in sealed boxes.
It is crucial to note that the 2019 order specifically asked the political parties to share the details of the donors also with the ECI.
In that order, the Court, after observing that the petitions challenging the Electoral Bonds scheme raised "weighty issues which have a tremendous bearing on the sanctity of the electoral process in the country", stated that an interim arrangement was necessary "would not tilt the balance in favour of either of the parties but that the same ensures adequate safeguards against the competing claims of the parties which are yet to be adjudicated."
The Court then went on to direct :
"In the above perspective, according to us, the just and proper interim direction would be to require all the political parties who have received donations through Electoral Bonds to submit to the Election Commission of India in sealed cover, detailed particulars of the donors as against the each Bond; the amount of each such bond and the full particulars of the credit received against each bond, namely, the particulars of the bank account to which the amount has been credited and the date of each such credit."(Emphasis supplied).
On November 2, 2023, the Court rejected the ECI's argument that it was required to collect the details only till April 12, 2019. The November 2023 order stated :
"The order of this Court was not restricted to the date on which it was pronounced. If there was any ambiguity, it was necessary for the Election Commission to seek a clarification from this Court. In any event, we now direct that the Election Commission shall produce up-to-date data until 30 September 2023 in terms of the interim directions which were issued on 12 April 2019."
Thus, the ECI was directed to collect the details "in terms" of the order dated April 12, 2019. Therefore, the effect of the April 12, 2019 order was made applicable throughout the period till September 30, 2023. A combined reading of the 2019 and 2023 order would mean that the political parties had to disclose to the ECI the "detailed particulars of the donors as against each Bond" among other details in respect of all bonds redeemed by them since inception.
Last week, the Supreme Court directed the ECI to open the sealed boxes and publish the information supplied by the political parties pursuant to the interim orders passed on April 12, 2019 and November 2, 2023. On Sunday (March 17), the ECI uploaded on its website these details.
The data showed that only a few political parties, such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Janata Dal (Secular) etc, disclosed the details of donors. The DMK said in its letter to the ECI, "The scheme also does not require the details of the donor to be furnished to the donee. Under these circumstances, the donors did not strictly adhere to the requirement of furnishing their details when ever they handed over the electoral bonds to us. Be that as it may, following the directions of Hon'ble Supreme Court, we contacted our donors and we were able to collect the details from them."
The Bharatiya Janata Party, the biggest recipient of the electoral bonds donations, wrote to the ECI specifically stating that it was not required to maintain the names of donors as per the clauses of the Electoral Bond Scheme.
"It is duly submitted that as per the applicable laws, the Party is not required to maintain the names and particulars of the donors of the Electoral Bonds and as such the Party has not maintained these particulars," BJP stated in its letter. Major opposition parties like the Indian National Congress, and the All India Trinamool Congress also did not disclose the donor details.
AITC stated in its letter to the ECI that most of the bonds were dropped in the drop boxes of the party office and that the party was not in possession of the details of the donors. Janata Dal (United) stated that somebody came to its office and handed over an envelope containing bonds worth Rs 10 crores. Parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Aam Aadmi Party made partial disclosure of the donor details.
It is quite hard to believe that donors who have contributed large amounts would keep themselves anonymous from the beneficiary political parties. The parties should be in a position to garner the details of the donors. In any case, no party approached the Supreme Court seeking any clarity or modification of the order.
The data furnished by the ECI shows that most political parties are in breach of the clear direction of the Supreme Court to disclose the "detailed particulars of the donors as against each bond."