The constitution bench further held that the “deletion of the provision to Section 182(1) of the Companies Act permitting unlimited corporate contributions to political parties is arbitrary and violative of Article 14.”
He claimed that on the day of the launching of the electoral bonds scheme, the Congress party had called it opaque and undemocratic and added that subsequently in its 2019 (Lok Sabha elections) manifesto it promised to scrap this “dubious” scheme.
However, if the hearing remains inconclusive on October 31, it will continue on November 1 as well.
The scheme was introduced in January 2018. Issued in multiple values of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 1 crore, electoral bonds can only be encashed by political parties, which had secured at least 1 per cent of the votes polled in the most recent Lok Sabha or state election.
