Selective Anonymity”: Supreme Court On Day 2 Of Electoral Bonds Hearing

New Delhi: 

Electoral bonds “provide (only) selective anonymity… confidentiality” since purchase records are available with the State Bank of India and can be accessed by investigative agencies, the Supreme Court noted Wednesday, as it responded to the government’s argument that absent provision for anonymous donations, a large volume of political funding could revert to black money. The court was conducting a second day of hearing of challenges to the legal validity of the electoral bonds scheme.

“If I gave to Party ‘A’ and Party ‘B’ formed the government, I’d (fear) victimisation… so safest course was pay cash. Practicality requires… so I’m not victimised. So, my clean money, is converted to black money… and that is disastrous for the economy,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued.

The provision for anonymous donation, therefore, is needed to protect donors from “victimisation and retribution”, if the party they did not donate to won the election, the government argued.