Watch | Electoral Bonds Was a Scheme to Strangle Democracy With: Kapil Sibal

The Supreme Court delivered its verdict on Thursday, February 15, on petitions challenging the validity of the electoral bond scheme. A five-member constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had reserved its verdict in November last year, which was delivered by the court on Thursday.

The court stated that anonymous electoral bonds are a violation of the Article 19(1)(A). Additionally, the court ruled that electoral bonds violate the right to information, asserting that voters in the country should have information about those who donate to political parties. It is against the rules to withhold information about donors.

Following the Supreme Court's decision, Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal remarked, "The decision of the Supreme Court is historical. According to the Indian Constitution, every citizen of India has the right to know who has donated to which political party and how much." Sibal further expressed concerns about the financial transparency of the Bharatiya Janata Party, suggesting that if the opposition comes together and raises this issue and makes it a national campaign, the opposition may benefit from this.

The Narendra Modi government introduced the electoral bond scheme in early 2018. Through this scheme, companies and individuals in India can make anonymous donations to political parties.

We spoke to social activist Anjali Bhardwaj on this issue.

She said, "No one donates to a political party without any reason. Whoever donates wants the political party to work for them. The common people need to know from whom and how much money the party is taking. But this Electoral Bond Scheme was an attack on the right to information.' She further said that the Supreme Court has banned this scheme by declaring it unconstitutional. So, this is a victory for people's right to information."

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