The Supreme Court on Friday declined petitions seeking a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged instances of quid pro quo arrangements between corporations and political parties through Electoral Bonds donations. In February, the Supreme Court struck down the Electoral Bonds Scheme which allowed for anonymous funding to political parties, and ordered the SBI to stop issuing Electoral Bonds immediately.
Terming the electoral bonds scheme a "scam", the plea sought a direction to authorities to investigate the source of funding of "shell companies and loss-making companies which made donations to various political parties, as has been disclosed by the data released by the Election Commission (EC)".
The petition has also sought a direction to the authorities to recover the money donated by companies as part of "quid pro quo arrangements where these are found to be proceeds of crime". A five-judge Constitution bench had on February 15 scrapped the electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding introduced by the BJP government.
Following the top court's judgement, the State Bank of India, the authorised financial institution under the scheme, had shared the data with the EC, which later made it public. The electoral bonds scheme, which was notified by the government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of its efforts to bring in transparency in political funding.
