After the Supreme Court, in a historic verdict, scrapped the Modi government's Electoral Bond Scheme, the Congress party expressed fear that the Centre may bring an ordinance to overturn the apex court's ruling.
Congress Leader Pawan Khera, who is chairman of media and publicity department, while addressing media said Congress Party welcomes this decision of the Supreme Court and demands that SBI should put all the information in the public domain, so that the public can know who gave how much money.
Hitting out at the BJP, he said, 'What has the BJP sold in exchange for the Rs 5200 crore it has received in 'electoral bonds'?'"
The Congress leader alleged, 'This scheme was brought by the Modi government in the form of a 'Money Bill', so that it could be passed directly without any discussion in the Rajya Sabha.'
Expressing his fear he said, "We fear that another ordinance may be issued again and the Modi government may be saved by this decision of the Supreme Court."
During the press conference, while leveling grave accusations against the Modi government, he asserted, "The Electoral Bond Scheme constitutes a corruption issue, with PM Modi directly implicated. The implementation of the electoral bond was imposed upon the nation, despite opposition from the Election Commission, the Finance Ministry, and officials from the Law Ministry. Today, the Prime Minister's involvement in corruption has been exposed. By legitimizing it through a money bill, the Prime Minister facilitated the possibility of MLA horse-trading, as well as the allocation of coal mines and airports to associates."
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court today invalidated the electoral bonds scheme, citing its violation on citizens' right to information. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud deemed the scheme unconstitutional and arbitrary, warning of potential quid pro quo arrangements between political parties and donors.
The Constitution bench, comprising five judges, concluded that the scheme's stated objectives of combating black money and maintaining donor confidentiality were insufficient grounds for its defense. The court emphasised that electoral bonds were not the sole method to tackle illegal funds.
The Chief Justice directed the State Bank of India to immediately stop facilitating donations and to furnish details of donations made through this mechanism to the Election Commission of India (ECI). Bench ordered ECI to publish this information on its website by March 13th.
