Plea in Supreme Court to confiscate money received by political parties through Electoral Bonds

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court to confiscate all the money collected by political parties under the electoral bonds scheme of 2018 which was struck down by the Supreme Court in February this year. .The petitioner has also sought directions to form a committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge to probe illegal benefits conferred as quid pro quo on the donors by the public authorities at the instance of political parties on account of payments received by such parties through electoral bonds. .Further, the plea has urged the court to issue directions to Income Tax Authorities to reopen assessment of all the beneficiary political parties from the financial year 2018-2019 to 2023-2024 and disallow the exemptions of income tax claimed by them under Section 13A of the Income Tax Act and levy income tax, interest and penalty on the amounts received by way of electoral bonds..The electoral bonds scheme had allowed donors to anonymously send funds to a political party after buying bearer bonds from the State Bank of India (SBI).It was introduced introduced through the Finance Act of 2017 which in turn amended three other statutes - the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Income Tax Act and the Representation of People Act.Various petitions were filed before the top court challenging at least five amendments made to different statutes through the Finance Act on the ground that they have opened doors to unlimited, unchecked funding of political parties..The Supreme Court had on February 15 struck down the electoral bonds scheme.The Court had unanimously quashed the scheme as well as amendments made to the Income Tax Act and the Representation of People Act which had made the donations anonymous.It had held that the electoral bonds scheme due to its anonymous nature was violative of right to information and thus hit free speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.It had also directed the SBI to disclose the details of all electoral bonds purchased and enchased from April 2019.Pursuant to that, the SBI had furnished all details of electoral bonds purchased including the details of political parties who purchased the bonds..The petition before the top court has contended that details of purchase and encashment of electoral bonds clearly showed that money paid through electoral bonds by the companies to political parties, was either to avoid criminal prosecution or to get monetary advantage by way of contract or other policy matters."The political parties used electoral bond as a tool and method to extract money, by conferring undue advantage to corporate houses by way of compromising their criminal prosecution or granting State largesse, at the cost of public exchequer and against public interest," reads the petition.