New Delhi, October 16 – The Supreme Court has decided to refer a set of petitions challenging the validity of the electoral bond scheme, which is used for political party funding, to a Constitution bench consisting of five judges.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud and Justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, acknowledged the urgency of the matter and accepted an application requesting referral to a larger bench for a conclusive judgment.
The hearing on this matter is scheduled for October 30, as previously fixed.
Earlier, the bench had taken note of the submissions made by lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who argued that the matter required adjudication before the electoral bond scheme was utilized for the 2024 general elections. Consequently, the bench had decided to set it for a final hearing.
Currently, there are four Public Interest Litigations (PILs) pending on this issue. One of the PIL petitioners had stated in March that political parties had received a total of Rs 12,000 crore through electoral bonds, with a significant portion going to one major political party.
Electoral bonds were introduced as an alternative to cash donations for political parties, with the aim of enhancing transparency in political funding.
