Seeks Centre, EC response in 2 weeks
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought response of the Centre and the Election Commission on a plea seeking stay on the electoral bond scheme meant for funding political parties. The top court, however, refused to grant an interim stay on the electoral bond scheme. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant asked the Centre and the Election Commission to file their responses within two weeks on the interim application filed by NGO ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’ for staying the scheme.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, alleged that the scheme is a means for channelising unaccounted black money in favour of the ruing party. Bhushan also referred to a document of the RBI while seeking stay of the scheme.
“We will see that. We are listing it after two weeks, the bench said. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the EC, said all these arguments have already been advanced earlier and sought four weeks time to reply to the plea of the NGO against the scheme.
The government has opened sale of electoral bonds for 10 days for the Delhi Assembly election. The government had notified the Electoral Bond Scheme on January 2, 2018.As per the notification, electoral bonds shall be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with an authorised bank. (PTI)