The Supreme Court declared the electoral bonds programme to be unconstitutional, but the BJP stood by it on Thursday, arguing that the program’s noble goal of increasing election financial transparency was achieved.
However, BJP leader and former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad clarified that his organisation accepts the ruling of the Supreme Court.
He pointed out that the ruling was rendered by the top court’s Constitution bench and stated that the hundreds of pages of the judgement call for careful consideration before the party may submit a formal response.
He informed reporters that the introduction of electoral bonds was one of the steps taken by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reform election spending.
According to Mr. Prasad, the voters’ list now includes pictures of the electorate, and the widespread use of electronic voting machines has reduced the risk of booth-capturing.
“This (bonds) was also a part of similar sincere efforts to make elections transparent. The honourable Supreme Court has given its judgment and we respect it. What we have to say on the verdict will be decided after going through the verdict,” he said.
He said the parties whose “DNA is based on corruption and bribery” should not bring such accusations against the BJP, taking a shot at the Congress, which had claimed that the bonds may also function as a bribe to the ruling BJP from corporate organisations.
He asserted that it is up to the voters to determine who is in the race and who is not, in response to allegations that electoral bonds deprived opposition parties an even playing field.
In a direct jab at the Congress, he stated, “People have thrown some parties out of the race and they could not win even one seat in regions which used to be their strongholds.”
Speaking on behalf of the BJP, Nalin Kohli charged that the opposition parties were politicising the matter because they had no other choice than to accept PM Modi’s leadership and the good job his government has accomplished.
The Supreme Court’s historic ruling to abolish the electoral bonds programme ahead of the April–May Lok Sabha elections prompted the BJP’s response.
When asked for his thoughts, Mr Kohli told PTI, “We practise in courts and on a daily basis, cases are won and lost.”
Any order of the Supreme Court or its judgment has to be accepted and respected, he added.
“But those political parties who are trying to politicise it are doing it primarily on the grounds that they have no answer or alternative to Modi ji’s leadership and the positive work done by his government where crores of people have benefitted,” he charged.
Kohli said India has now become the fifth largest economy in the world from the 10th largest economy and it is on its way to become the third largest economy under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership.
“These political parties find themselves in a position that an alliance they were trying to craft is almost dying itself or it’s dying out or collapsing even before it could stand on its legs,” the BJP spokesperson said.
“So, their reason for politicising it is very clear,” he added.
Mr Kohli said the government had brought the electoral bond scheme to address the issue of use of black money in elections.
“The largest perspective is that this has been a journey for several decades and a concern has been how to prevent black money or slush money getting into the electoral process,” the BJP leader said.
“Keeping concerns regarding the identities of the contributors in the mind, a (electoral bond) scheme came. The Supreme Court has held that this scheme in this format could not have been there. Therefore, it passed a set of directions,” he said.
Mr. Kohli stated that the information in electoral bonds should be disclosed as the highest court has “basically” stated today. He further stated that “any order of the Supreme Court or its judgement has to be accepted”.
The supreme court ruled that both the right to information and the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the constitution are violated by the government’s electoral bond programme.
The opposition parties blasted the BJP and applauded the Supreme Court’s decision.
The president of the Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, expressed hope that the Modi government will refrain from using “such mischievous ideas” going forward, citing the court’s invalidation of a “black money conversion” programme.
