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Electoral Bonds
The introduction of electoral bonds is a retrograde measure that radically alters the transparency regime of electoral funding. By obscuring the identities of a bond’s purchaser and recipient from everyone but the State Bank of India, they give an unfair advantage to the party in power at the centre, undermine the Election Commission’s oversight role, and deprive the voters of their right to determine if the ruling party is extending undue favours to its donors.
The electoral bond is a strange beast. It is a bond that carries no interest, but is comparable to a junk bond. It combines the promise of high returns to the investor in the immediate term with high risk, but the risk inherent in this instrument is borne by the society.
The challenge to the constitutionality of electoral bonds is close to determination. In all fairness, it ought to have been decided well before the start of the current general elections. The challenge is a part of a larger civil society struggle for delineation of the voter’s right to be informed in its plenitude.
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