'Bad judgement, parties will go back to black money route,' says ex-Infosys CFO as SC strikes down electoral bonds

Former Infosys Chief Financial Officer Mohandas Pai on Thursday said the Supreme Court's verdict to scrap electoral bonds was 'bad' as now political parties will move to the old system, which allowed cash donations and the source of money was not known. The electoral bonds were introduced in 2017 by former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for transparency in political funding. 

This electoral bonds scheme allowed donors to donate money to political parties through banking channels without disclosing their identity. While this addressed the concern of black money, many said the details about who is donating to whom should also be made public.   

Also read: Electoral bonds worth Rs 16,000 cr sold since its inception; BJP gets the lion’s share

Earlier today, the apex court struck down the electoral bonds scheme, terming it "unconstitutional". The SC directed the SBI to cease issuing electoral bonds with immediate effect. "Electoral bonds scheme is violative of Article 19(1)(a) and unconstitutional. Amendment to Companies Act is unconstitutional," said Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. 

Mohandas Pai called it a "bad judgement" and asked: "How will this bring transparency? Parties will go back to the old system where black money from corruption ruled the roost! Did voters know who gave money earlier? Now they know the amounts by party! all parties agreed to law, all parties accepted electoral bonds!"

BJP's national Vice President Baijayant Jay Panda said the electoral bonds were infinitely better than what they had replaced: "suitcases of illicit cash". "Those suitcases were tainted, always by tax evasion and often with links to drugs and arms smuggling," he said, adding that the bonds addressed the issue of legitimacy (all donors are registered entities under high levels of regulatory scrutiny). 

Panda said while wanting even higher levels of traceability may be desirable, donors were skittish, making it impractical. "The data on bonds demonstrates comprehensively that no party has faced discrimination, including and especially those who have seen a drastic reduction in public support."

But today, he said, "the perfect has become the enemy of the good,” and "the baby has been thrown out along with the bath water". "We must ponder. Was citizens' right to information somehow better before bonds existed, in the era of suitcases? Was not the system inherently compromised, with suitcase-by-suitcase governance?" he asked.