Electoral bonds: Supreme Court refuses to order SIT probe into alleged quid pro quo arrangements

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to set up a Special Investigation Team to probe alleged instances of quid pro quo arrangements through electoral bonds, ANI reported.

The court said it would be premature and inappropriate to do so when the ordinary methods of seeking legal recourse have not yet been invoked.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud also refused to direct authorities to recover funds that political parties had received through electoral bonds, or to reopen their income tax assessments, Live Law reported.

The Supreme Court in February struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional, holding that it violated the right to information, freedom of speech and could lead to quid pro quo arrangements between donors and political parties.

More than two months later, four petitions were filed in the court demanding that a Special Investigation Team supervised by a retired Supreme Court judge should look into alleged quid pro quo arrangements between corporations, political parties and government agencies based on the electoral bonds data that was made public.

The bench headed by Chandrachud, however, held on Friday that the petitions were based on the assumption that an element of quid pro quo would exist if the date when electoral bonds were bought “was in proximity to the award of a contract or a change...

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