Editor's Pick: Electoral bonds to continue

The Hindu Newsletter - The Hindu Newsletter - Editor's Pick [The Hindu Logo](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link18) [Facebook](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link1) [Twitter](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link3) [Youtube](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link36) [Linkedin](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link16) [Instagram](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link15) Saturday 27, March 2021 [alt_text](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link13) Editor's Pick SC nod to continue sale of electoral bonds [alt_text](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link29) (The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.) The Supreme Court on Friday [refused to stay the sale of electoral bonds](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link23) before Assembly elections in four States and one Union Territory. The judgment said the scheme began in 2018 and continued in 2019 and 2020 without any impediments and that the[court found no reason to stall the sale of electoral bonds](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link24) now. The judgment came on an urgent application moved by the NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, to stay the sale scheduled between April 1 and 10, arguing that their sale could disproportionately increase funding to some political parties. [Electoral bonds](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link26) are financial instruments that political parties can use to gather funding, with their buyer remaining anonymous and transactions allowed only through the State Bank of India. The scheme was introduced by the Modi government in the Finance Bill-2017 as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties. The government had reasoned that the scheme was an antidote to black money in politics as all donations would have to be routed through the banking system. ADR however, was one of the first orgnisations to move the Supreme Court against the scheme, arguing that the [anonymity granted to political donors would be damaging](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link33). That was back in 2018, and until the urgent application moved just a few days ago to stop their sale ahead of the coming Assembly elections, the Supreme Court has not held a final hearing on ADR’s original petition as well as a host of others against the scheme. During the hearing on the ADR application earlier in the week, the Election Commission of India registered its support for the scheme, stating that the alternative was to go back to the pre-existing situation of donations coming in by cash. The poll body’s stand was quite surprising as the NGO had consistently maintained that both the RBI and the ECI had voiced objections to the scheme. We may have to wait quite a while however, before these various positions can be scrutinised. The court’s observations in regard to this petition are technically not supposed to influence any ‘final hearings’. For the foreseeable future, the[electoral bonds scheme](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link35) looks set to continue. That marks this story out as our top pick of the day. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. [Click here](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link27) Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Name the 59-metre-wide container ship wedged diagonally across the entire Suez canal, prompting a suspension of navigation through one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. 1. MV Eva Green 2. MV Eva Grin 3. MV Evergreen 4. MV Ever Given To find out the answer and play the full quiz, [click here](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link9) The Big Story [Supreme Court refuses to stay sale of electoral bonds ahead of Assembly polls](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link25) [alt_text](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link25) From the Front Page [alt_text](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link21) [Heavy security for Phase I polling in West Bengal and Assam](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link21) [alt_text](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link22) [India, Bangladesh must fight terror together: Modi](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link22) From the Opinion Pages [alt_text](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link32) [Dormant Parliament, fading business](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link32) [alt_text](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link34) [Israel’s democracy is facing a stress test](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link34) Today's Editorials [In-house secrets: On A.P. CM’s c](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link31)harges against Justice Ramana [Deadly trail: On Mumbai COVID-19](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link30) hospital fire You are receiving this email because you are a user of [thehindu.com](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link18) If you do not wish to receive any such emails, [unsubscribe here.](mailto:rm-0bfa59rmbf2f90kaup33rtbysa8hkwm@newsalert.thehindu.com?subject=Unsubscribe&body=You will be unsubscribed from our mailing list.) To ensure you continue to receive emails from The Hindu in your inbox, please add newsletters.th@newsalert.thehindu.com to your contact. If you can't see the mailer, please [click here.](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link28) Group Sites [The Hindu](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link18) | [இந்து தமிழ் திசை](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link14) | [Business Line](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link5) | [BL on Campus](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link8) | [Sportstar](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link2) | [Frontline](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link11) | [The Hindu Centre](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link6) | [Images](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link7) | [roofandfloor](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link17) | [Classifieds](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link4) Copyright @ 2021 ,THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. [About Us](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link19) | [Contact Us](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link20) | [Digital Subscription](B9HlHIB9HlJNAABeY22r/link12)