In its historic verdict, the Supreme Court struck down electoral bonds for being unconstitutional and directed disclosure of information regarding the purchase and redemption of bonds transacted since its interim order of April 12, 2019.
Ever since the data has been published, there has been intense public engagement with the names of purchasers of bonds, the value of bonds bought by them and the dates on which the bonds were purchased. The information, as expected, has brought to light potential quid pro quo arrangements. Yet, voters remain in the dark about the identity of purchasers of electoral bonds worth more than Rs 4,000 crore sold before April 12, 2019. Unfortunately, the situation is unlikely to be remedied despite the additional disclosures that the court has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to make.
Interim order of April 12, 2019
Prior to the 2019 general elections, while hearing the challenge to the electoral bonds, a bench led by the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, observed that the contentions made, “give rise to weighty issues which have a tremendous bearing on the sanctity of the electoral process in the country. Such weighty issues would require an in-depth hearing.” In its interim order dated April 12, 2019, although the Supreme Court refused to stay the electoral bond scheme, the court directed political parties to submit information about electoral bonds received by them to the ECI, including: the details of donors of each bond; the amount and date of each bond; and details of the bank in which the bonds were credited. All of this was required to be submitted in a sealed cover by political parties to the ECI.
Will the disclosures by the ECI make the cut?
On March 11, 2024, the constitution bench of the Supreme Court directed the ECI to publish forthwith the information it had collected from political parties regarding bonds redeemed since the inception of the electoral bond scheme.
The ECI went back to court saying it could not comply since the original sealed envelopes had been submitted to the Supreme Court by the ECI without keeping a copy! The Commission requested the SC to return the sealed envelopes. The court acceded to the request and gave time till Sunday (March 17) for the information to be made public.
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Once the 629 sealed envelopes are opened and their contents disclosed, we will get access to information submitted by political parties for all bonds redeemed by them, including those redeemed before April 12, 2019. While this data is significant, it is unlikely to contain the names of purchasers – the holy grail of disclosures, which enable public scrutiny and tracking of quid pro quo.
A key element of the bonds was complete donor anonymity. As per the electoral bond scheme, even political parties were not supposed to know who donated the bonds to them. Though it would be a reasonable assumption that donors would have found ways to let the recipient party know their identity (for how else would they receive favours?) but given the nature of the scheme, it would have been through informal channels. Therefore, although the Supreme Court required political parties to submit “detailed particulars of the donors as against each Bond”, parties are likely to have justifiably claimed ignorance and expressed their inability to furnish this data. In any case, even if donors revealed themselves to the recipient party, there would be no way for the party to ascertain whether the donor was indeed the actual purchaser of the bond. The opportunity that the scheme created for trading of bonds for a consideration with no trail of the transactions, opening the doors for money laundering, was also one of the grounds on which the bonds failed the test of constitutionality.
In conclusion, even after the ECI disclosures, we, the people of India, are likely to remain in the dark about names of purchasers of electoral bonds worth over Rs 4,000 crore (25% of the total amount transacted through bonds).
In the 2019 general elections, people cast their votes with no information about purchasers and redeemers of electoral bonds. To take its landmark judgment to its logical conclusion, the court must direct the State Bank of India to disclose information regarding purchasers of bonds since the commencement of the scheme on March 1, 2018. Voters must have full details about electoral bonds to enable them to exercise an informed vote in the forthcoming general elections.
Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri are transparency activists associated with the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information and Satark Nagrik Sangathan.
