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The 5 judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court has given directions in W.P(C) No.880 of 2017 on 15th Februaryc 2024 that challenged the Electoral Bonds are as follows:
216. In view of the discussion above, the following are our conclusions:
a) The Electoral Bond Scheme, the proviso to Section 29C(1) of the Representation of the People Act 1951 (as amended by Section 137 of Finance Act 2017), Section 182 (3) of the Companies Act (as amended by Section 154 of the Finance Act 2017), and Section 13A(b) (as amended by Section 11 of Finance Act 2017) are violative of Article 19(1)(a) and unconstitutional; and
b) The deletion of the proviso to Section 182(1) of the Companies Act permitting unlimited corporate contributions to political parties is arbitrary and violative of Article 14.
217. We direct the disclosure of information on contributions received by political parties under the Electoral Bond Scheme to give logical and complete effect to our ruling. On 12 April 2019, this Court issued an interim order directing that the information of donations received and donations which will be received must be submitted by political parties to the ECI in a sealed cover. This Court directed that political parties submit detailed particulars of the donors as against each Bond, the amount of each bond and the full particulars of the credit received against each bond, namely, the particulars of the bank account to which the amount has been credited and the date on which each such credit was made……..
219. In view of our discussion above, the following directions are issued:
a) The issuing bank shall herewith stop the issuance of Electoral Bonds;
b) SBI shall submit details of the Electoral Bonds purchased since the interim order of this Court dated 12th April 2019 till date to the ECI. The details shall include the date of purchase of each Electoral Bond, the name of the purchaser of the bond and the denomination of the Electoral Bond purchased.
c) SBI shall submit the details of political parties which have received contributions through Electoral Bonds since the interim order of this Court dated 12th Apirl 2019 till date to the ECI. SBI must disclose details of each Electoral Bond encashed by political parties which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of the Electoral Bond;
d) SBI shall submit the above information to the ECI within three weeks from the date of this judgment, that is, by 6th March 2024;
e) The ECI shall publish the information shared by the SBI on its official website within one week of the receipt of the information, that is, by 13 March 2024; and
f) Electoral Bonds which are within the validity period of fifteen days but that which have not been encashed by the political party yet shall be returned by the political party or the purchaser depending on who is in possession of the bond to the issuing bank. The issuing bank, upon the return of the valid bond shall refund the amount to the purchaser’s account.
