NEW DELHI: On Monday, the Supreme Court forwarded a number of arguments contesting the legality of the electoral bond programme for funding political parties to a five-judge Constitution panel. Judges J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, along with Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, announced that they had received a request to refer the urgent case to a larger bench for a decision. The matter will be heard on October 30, the bench announced, as it was previously scheduled.The panel had earlier agreed to set the case for a final hearing after taking note of attorney Prashant Bhushan’s arguments that the problem needed to be resolved before the electoral bond programme opened for the 2024 general elections. On this matter, four PILs are still open. In March, one of the PIL petitioners stated that, of the Rs 12,000 crore in electoral bonds that have been issued to date, two-thirds had gone to one major political party. As part of efforts to increase openness in political fundraising, electoral bonds have been proposed as an alternative to financial contributions made to political parties.
