'Cancelling electoral bonds will bring more transparency', says Nobel laureate Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen: Sen spoke to 'PTI-Bhasha' from Massachusetts, USA and said that this step will bring more transparency among the people in the context of elections. He said, “Electoral bonds were a scam and I am happy that it has now been scrapped. I hope there will be more transparency in the support people give to each other in the context of elections.”
Noted economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court's recent decision to scrap the electoral bond scheme and condemned the scheme as a scam.
Sen spoke to PTI from Massachusetts in the US and said that this step will bring more transparency among the people in the context of elections. He said, “Electoral bonds were a scam and I am happy that it has now been scrapped. I hope there will be more transparency in the support people give to each other in the context of elections.”
In a landmark judgment earlier this month, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme to finance politics, terming it "unconstitutional" and making information about donors, bond values and their recipients available. Was instructed to do it.
Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud led a five-member Constitution bench that described the 2018 plan as a "violation" of the rights to information and speech freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. The Centre claimed that the scheme's goals were to reduce black money and increase political donation transparency, but the top court rejected this claim.
The State Bank of India (SBI), the financial institution approved for this scheme, is required to submit a detailed account of all electoral bonds purchased between April 12, 2019, and March 6, 2019. The court's decision came just before the Lok Sabha elections. instructed to give it to the Election Commission as well.
Sen said, "The electoral system in India is deeply influenced by the nature of party politics, which makes it very difficult for the common people to hear that they should participate in elections." The economist said that the country's electoral system is affected by this. The issue is influenced by how the government treats opposition parties.
“It is influenced by the way it treats opposition parties and people whom the government wants to keep under sanctions,” he said. We want as free an electoral system as possible, in addition to the freedom of expression and action of citizens." Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has also praised the court's decision to cancel the electoral bond scheme, saying that it is a big victory for transparency.
