Electoral Bond Scheme

The Electoral Bond Scheme in India allowed individuals and companies to donate money to a political party without disclosing their name or how much they contributed, by buying interest-free bearer bonds offered by the State Bank of India (SBI), to be encashed by political parties. The scheme was introduced in 2018 in order to make political funding more transparent in India while keeping the donor information private. Nevertheless, on February 15, 2024, the Supreme Court of India struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme. The Court held that the Electoral Bond Scheme contravenes the voters right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, as the scheme allowed political donations to be made anonymously thereby obstructing transparency, and allows for quid pro quo behaviour between the donor and political party.

Following the Supreme Court’s verdict:

• SBI was instructed to stop issuing electoral bond immediately.
• SBI was told to immediately give all donor information to Election Commission of India (ECI), and political party information.
• ECI was then instructed to post this information on its website to publicly accessible.