Cong welcomes verdict, BJP accuses Opposition parties of politicising issue

 The Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme, saying it violates the right to information and the freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution

PTI, 15 February 2024 : The Congress on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict striking down the electoral bond scheme, and said it will reinforce the power of votes over notes.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, The Supreme Court has held the much-touted Electoral Bonds scheme of the Modi Sarkar as violative of both laws passed by Parliament as well as the Constitution of India.

The long-awaited verdict is hugely welcome and will reinforce the power of votes over notes, he said.

The Modi Sarkar has been inflicting ANYAY upon ANYAY on the Annadatas while privileging the Chandadatas, Ramesh said.

We also hope that the Supreme Court will take note that Election Commission has been consistently refusing to even meet political parties on the issue of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). If everything is transparent in the voting process then why this obstinacy? he said.

The Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme, saying it violates the right to information and the freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution.

The Opposition party also said that it hopes that the Modi Government will stop resorting to such "mischievous ideas" in the future and listen to the Supreme Court so that democracy, transparency and level-playing field persist. 

In a post on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge welcomed the Supreme Court decision and hoped the government will stop resorting to "such mischievous ideas" in the future. Kharge said the Congress had called the scheme "opaque and undemocratic" when it was launched. Subsequently, in the 2019 manifesto, the Congress promised to scrap the Modi government's "dubious scheme".

"We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court today, which has struck down this 'Black Money Conversion' scheme of the Modi Government, calling it 'Unconstitutional'. "We remember how the Modi Govt, PMO and FM bulldozed every institution - RBI, Election Commission, Parliament and Opposition to fill BJP's coffers. No wonder, 95 per cent of the funding under this scheme was received by BJP," Kharge said.

However, the BJP alleged that the Opposition parties are politicising the issue as they do not have any alternative to Prime Minister Modi's leadership.