The Supreme Court of India on Thursday struck down India's electoral bond schemes in a unanimous verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the legal validity of the Centre's scheme which allowed for anonymous funding to political parties. A five-judge panel headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud directed all the Indian Banks to stop issuing electoral bonds and also asked the State Bank of India (SBI) to submit a report divulging information about the donors who bought electoral bonds since the interim order of the court dated April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission of India (ECI). Now, the question arises how scrapping of Indian Electoral Bond Schemes can dent PM Modi and BJP's campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024? Below is everything you need to know-
What is Indian Electoral Bond and what did SC say?
A law on Indian Electoral Bond was brought in 2018 by the Modi Government. As per the law, the Section 182 of Companies Act, 2013 governs an Indian company's right to contribute to a political party. Prior to the amendments, this was governed by a set of conditions - the donation should be authorised by the Board; (ii) the donation cannot be made in cash, (iii) the donation must be disclosed in the Company's profit and loss account (iv) the company cannot donate more than 7.5 per cent of its average profits for three years and (v) the company must disclose the name of the party it had donated to.
