Supreme Court to Hear PIL for SIT Probe into Electoral Bonds Scheme on July 22

The Supreme Court has scheduled the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a court-monitored investigation into the electoral bonds scheme for July 22. The PIL, filed by two NGOs—Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL)—will be heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, submitted the matter to the court, leading to the scheduling of the hearing. The bench also noted that a similar plea listed for Friday will be taken up together with the PIL on July 22.

The PIL filed by Common Cause and CPIL alleges an “apparent quid pro quo” between political parties, corporations, and investigative agencies. Terming the electoral bonds scheme as a “scam,” the petition seeks a direction for authorities to investigate the source of funding from “shell companies and loss-making companies” that made donations to various political parties, as revealed by data from the Election Commission (EC).

The petition further requests that authorities recover money donated by companies as part of “quid pro quo arrangements where these are found to be proceeds of crime.”

On February 15, a five-judge Constitution bench scrapped the electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding introduced by the BJP government. Following the Supreme Court’s judgement, the State Bank of India, the authorized financial institution under the scheme, shared data with the EC, which subsequently made it public.

The electoral bonds scheme, notified by the government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash donations to political parties, aiming to increase transparency in political funding.

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The plea points out that the electoral bonds scheme has a traceable money trail, unlike the 2G or coal scams, where allocations were arbitrarily made without a clear money trail. Despite the lack of direct financial evidence in those cases, the Supreme Court ordered court-monitored investigations, appointed special public prosecutors, and formed special courts. The petition argues that a similar approach should be taken for the electoral bonds scheme.