The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned till the last week of January 2023 the hearing in pleas challenging the electoral bonds scheme, reported Live Law.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath said that even for reference, a preliminary hearing is required. The bench also expressed difficulty in hearing the matter on Thursday, considering the number of cases that were listed.
“This has been pending since 2015. What is the pressing urgency that it has to be heard on the penultimate day before vacation?” Justice Gavai asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was appearing for one of the petitioners, the Association for Democratic Reforms.
Bhushan replied that an urgent hearing on the matter was requested on many occasions.
“There is no election as of now. We will hear it in the last week of January 2023,” the bench added.
Bhushan submitted before the bench that the matter should be referred to a Constitution bench as “weighty issues of public importance” are involved.
The NGO, which had filed the PIL in 2017, had filed an interim application in March before the West Bengal and Assam elections urging that the window for sale of electoral bonds not be reopened.
What are electoral bonds?
Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties. The initiative which was introduced by former Finance minister late Arun Jaitley aims to bring transparency to political funding.
The State Bank of India is the only bank that is authorised to issue electoral bonds, that can be purchased by Indian citizens or entities incorporated or established in the country.
Registered political parties that have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the Lok Sabha or state assembly elections are eligible to receive funding through electoral bonds.
On December 3, the government had approved the issuance of the 24th tranche of electoral bonds that was open for sale on December 5-12. The day coincided with phase two of Gujarat Assembly elections. An electoral bond is valid for 15 days from the date of issuance, and no payment would be made to any political party if the bond is deposited after the expiry of the validity period.