Supreme Court Seeks President Intervention In Electoral Bonds Case

Adish C. Aggarwala, the head of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), wrote to President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday, pleading with her for a presidential reference of the top court’s decision in the electoral bonds scheme case and to withhold its implementation until the court has reheard the case.

Mr Aggarwala, in his letter to the president, said, “Revealing the names of corporates that had contributed to different political parties would render the corporates vulnerable for victimization.”

“The possibility of them being singled out by those parties that had received less contribution from them, and harassed cannot be ruled out if the names of corporates and their quantum of contributions to various parties are revealed. This will be reneging on the promise given to them while accepting their voluntary contributions.”

In the electoral bonds case, the head of the bar association pleaded with Ms. Murmu to request a presidential reference so that the entire process could be repeated and full justice could be served to the “Parliament of India, political parties, corporates, and the general public.”

The Constitution’s Article 143 grants the Supreme Court advisory jurisdiction and gives the Indian President the authority to confer with the highest court. The president may refer a matter for consideration to the highest court if he believes it to be a matter of law or fact that has emerged, or may arise in the future, and is of public importance and would benefit from the court’s opinion.
The nation’s largest public sector bank was forewarned by the top court on Monday that it could face legal action for “wilful disobedience” if it did not follow its directives and deadlines. The State Bank of India was ordered to provide the Election Commission with details of the electoral bonds that political parties had cashed by the end of business hours on March 12.
In addition to rejecting the State Bank of India’s request for an extension of time until June 30 to disclose the details, the five-judge constitution bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud ordered the EC to post the information shared by the bank on its official website by March 15 at five o’clock p.m.

The same five-judge constitution bench struck down the Center’s contentious electoral bonds program, which permitted anonymous political funding, declaring it “unconstitutional” in a historic decision rendered on February 15. The EC was also ordered to disclose the names of donors, the amounts they contributed, and the recipients by March 13.
The top court ordered the scheme’s closure and gave the authorized financial institution, SBI, until March 6 to provide the Election Commission with a list of all the electoral bonds that have been purchased since April 12, 2019.

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