India’s Supreme Court has scrapped a seven-year-old election funding system, called electoral bonds, that allows individuals and companies to donate money to political parties anonymously and without any limits.
Coming nearly two months before the general election, Thursday’s decision is seen as a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been the largest beneficiary of the system it introduced in 2017.
The secretive election funding system was challenged by the opposition parties and a civil society group on the grounds that it hindered the public’s right to know who had given money to political parties.
“Political contributions give a seat at the table to the contributor … this access also translates into influence over policy-making,” Chandrachud said.
A five-judge top court bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Thursday said the system is “unconstitutional” and directed the state-run State Bank of India (SBI) to not issue any more of these bonds.
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