Electoral Bonds Scheme: Supreme Court to continue hearing tomorrow, November 02

The Supreme Court of India, today, heard the batch of petitions challenging the legal validity of the electoral bonds scheme, facilitating anonymous donations to political parties, for the second day. A five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice BR Gavai, Justice Manoj Misra, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, and Justice JB Pardiwala was hearing the matter. On October 31, 2023 (yesterday), the Constitution bench initiated the hearing where Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), began his arguments related to the matter. Further, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, Advocate Shadan Farasat, and Advocate Nizam Pasha advanced their arguments on the same yesterday. 

Today (November 01, 2023), the Supreme Court resumed the hearing where Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria initiated the proceedings stating “Free and fair elections are part of the basic structure of the Constitution…” Further, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for an applicant, initiated the arguments and ended by stating, “I support the petitioner and I am making a further case that even under the law as it stands, your Lordships can impose further directions which would possibly reduce the opacity.” Along with this, Counsel for Dalit Panthers, Attorney General R Venkataramani, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also presented their viewpoints. Supreme Court to continue hearing the matter tomorrow, November 02, 2023.