Hours after the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme, former Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi on Thursday said the decision is a ‘big boon for democracy’.
Earlier in the day, a five-judge apex court bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said the electoral bond scheme violates the right to information and freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution.
Besides this, the apex court bench also ordered State Bank of India to disclose to the Election Commission the names of contributors to the six-year-old scheme for political funding.
“This will restore people’s faith in democracy. This is the biggest thing that could have happened. This is the most historic decision we have got from the Supreme Court in the last five-seven years. It is a big boon for democracy.” PTI quoted Qureshi as saying.
Also read: Electoral bonds brought for transparency in election funding, we respect the decision of Supreme Court: BJP
He said, “We all were worried for the last several years. Everyone who loves democracy was opposing it. I wrote many articles and spoke to the media many times. And whatever issue we raised, it was addressed in the decision.” Has gone.”
The former CEC also put up a post on X praising the Supreme Court for the decision. “Electoral bonds declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court. Good luck to the Supreme Court!”
The scheme, which was notified by the government on January 2, 2018, was introduced as an alternative to cash donations to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding.
Qureshi said it was fine to ensure that donations go through the banking system, but “our argument was why should donations given to a political party be kept secret?”
“The donor wants secrecy but the public wants transparency. Now why does the donor want secrecy? Because they want to hide the benefits they get in return, the licenses, contracts and even the bank loans with which they run away abroad. Is that why they want privacy?” He asked.
“And the government was trying to maintain the confidentiality of the donors… the same donors who have been donating for these 70 years. Suddenly there was a need for confidentiality. So now it has been scrapped. I think this has made our Will give democracy is healthy once again,” he said.
He said that this could be the best thing for India’s democracy.
“The fact that the court has ordered that all donations received in the last two-three years will be returned and will be disclosed to the nation… This will help us know whether there was any quid pro quo , has there been any donor out there who has been subjected to all kinds of suspicious pressures. A lot of things will come to light from this decision. In a word, it is a ‘historic’ decision,” Qureshi said.
Asked what impact it would have on the upcoming general elections, he said it would impact “substantially, but not completely”.
He said, “Because in any case political parties have been funded in the past. They will continue to be funded in the future also. But this opaque way of funding has been removed and that is the best part of it. “
He said that he has always demanded transparency.
He said, “Let people donate to political parties. They have been donating for 70 years, there is no problem. Even if you donated to opposition parties, there has been no retribution. No one has taken any retaliatory action.” “
“Corporates have been donating to all parties contesting the same elections. The only thing in the system which was working properly for 70 years was that 60-70 per cent of donations had to be given in cash, which was a matter of concern. ” Qureshi said.
With agency input.
Unlock a world of benefits! From informative newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and personalized newsfeeds – it’s all here, just a click away! log in now!
Watch all politics news and updates on Live Mint. Check out all the latest action on Budget 2024 here. Download Mint News app to get daily market updates and live business news.
more less
Published: Feb 15, 2024, 06:33 PM IST
