Late former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the Electoral Bonds Scheme in 2017.
The Supreme Court on Thursday junked the electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous funding to political parties by striking down the legal provisions introducing and laying down its framework. The top court said that the 2018 scheme was "violative" of the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression and the right to information.
While presenting the budget in Parliament in 2017, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the Electoral Bonds Scheme. It was claimed that the scheme would prove to be a panacea against corruption and black money in elections. According to the scheme, the name of the donor is kept secret. The name of the person taking donations through Electoral Bonds is also kept secret. And the source of donations through Electoral Bonds will also be secret.
That is, the Electoral Bond Scheme which was brought with the claim of bringing transparency in political donations, all foolproof arrangements were made to keep it confidential. For which, even before introducing Electoral Bonds, the Central Government passed the Finance Act 2017 under which changes were made in three laws.
Changes were also made in the IT Act for Electoral Bonds. No cap on the amount of donations through Electoral Bonds. Whereas before 2017, under the Companies Act, a company could give election donations only seven and a half percent of its average profit of the last three years.
Changes were also made in FCRA i.e. Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2010 regarding electoral donations through Electoral Bonds. Earlier, there was a provision in FCRA that no political party could accept donations from any foreign source. But by changing this, a provision was made that if any foreign company is registered in India, then it can also donate through Electoral Bonds.
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 "DNA TV Show: How did Centre bring Electoral Bonds Scheme?")
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