SC to hear pleas challenging electoral bond scheme in last week of January

The Supreme Court of India. (File image)

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will hear in the last week of January a batch of PILs challenging laws permitting funding of political parties through the electoral bond scheme.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath said the matter requires to heard.

"This is a 2015 matter. You can't have such an emergency just before the penultimate day of the vacation...There is no election as of now. We will hear it in the last week of January, 2023," the bench said.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for PIL petitioner NGO, 'Association for Democratic Reforms', said there are several constitutional questions involved in the petitions which have a tremendous bearing on sanctity of electoral process.

He said the issue of reference to Constitution Bench can be looked into first.

The apex court said that this will also require hearing.

The NGO, which had filed the PIL in 2017 on the alleged issue of corruption and subversion of democracy through illicit and foreign funding of political parties and lack of transparency in the accounts of all political parties, had filed an interim application in March before the assembly polls in West Bengal and Assam seeking that window for sale of electoral bonds be not reopened.