New Delhi:  The Supreme Court will announce its decision on Thursday on a number of petitions that question the legality of the electoral bonds scheme. The scheme, which was introduced by the government on January 2, 2018, was meant to be a substitute for cash donations to political parties, aiming to make political funding more transparent. The scheme allows any citizen of India or entity registered or established in the country to buy electoral bonds, either individually or with others.


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Only the political parties that are registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and that got at least 1 per cent of the votes in the previous elections to the Lok Sabha or a state legislative assembly can receive electoral bonds. The notification states that electoral bonds can only be cashed by an eligible political party through an account with a bank that is authorised.


The apex court had refused to put a hold on the electoral bonds scheme in April 2019 and had said that it would give a thorough hearing to the petitions, as the Centre and the Election Commission had brought up “serious issues” that had a “huge impact on the purity of the electoral process in the country”.


The Constitution bench, which also includes Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, had started hearing arguments on the four petitions, which were filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), on October 31 last year.


The apex court had stressed the importance of cutting down the cash element in the electoral process during the hearing.