Supreme Court Refuses Interim Stay on Electoral Bonds; To Take up Matter on April 11

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Association of Democratic Reforms, alleged that thousands of crores are being given to political parties, especially the BJP, anonymously.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant an interim stay on the operation of electoral bonds scheme and asked the NGO, Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) to file an appropriate application for it.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that the issue requires detailed hearing and, therefore, it will be taken up on April 10.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for ADR, alleged that thousands of crores are being given to political parties anonymously.

He added that 95% of the electoral bonds are being given to the ruling party.

Also Read: Much Ado About Nothing: Electoral Bonds and an Unapologetic Lack of Transparency

Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, said that the electoral bonds scheme was brought to check the flow of black money into political funding.

He said that it seemed like Bhushan was giving an election speech by claiming that 95% of the electoral bonds have gone to the ruling party.

The bench in a lighter vein said, “It’s election time. We will hear on April 10”.

ADR’s application seeks a stay on the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018, which was notified by the Centre in January, last year.

The BJP-led NDA government had announced electoral bonds in the earlier budget, claiming that the scheme would clean up political funding.