Supreme Court Rejects ADR Plea Seeking Stay on Issuance of Electoral Bonds Ahead of Assembly Elections

The Supreme Court today rejected the plea by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, ADR, for a stay on issuance of electoral bonds, scheduled from April 1 to 10, amid the assembly elections in five states. The plea was heard by a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde.

The apex court said that the electoral bonds had been issued several times before and that there is no evidence that has brought about its adverse impact on elections. The Supreme Court added that no interim order is required in the



case as it had earlier issued certain interim orders, including directing political parties to submit details of donations received through electoral bonds in a sealed cover to EC. The bench had reserved the order in the case on March 24 after hearing arguments from all the parties in the case.

The plea of NGO had said the sale of fresh electoral bonds should be stopped till the top court decided the three pending petitions challenging Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 which granted anonymity to donors to political parties.