Why did the Supreme Court rule against the Electoral Bonds? : Explained in 15 mins

Summary

2024年2月15日，印度最高法院宣布匿名选举债券计划违宪，引发了关于印度政治资金的重大争议。选举债券旨在通过合法的数字交易减少黑钱交易，但最高法院认为其侵犯了公民的知情权，可能被用作政治勒索的工具，并威胁到民主。从2018年到2024年，共售出价值165.18亿卢比的选举债券，其中人民党是最大受益者。法院的裁决引发了关于选举债券是否有利于民主的辩论。

Takeaways

• 📜 2024年2月15日，印度最高法院宣布匿名选举债券计划违宪，引发了关于印度政治资金的重大争议。
• 🏦 最高法院批评印度国家银行（SBI）未完全披露选举债券的相关信息。
• 🔍 选举债券被认为是安全的政治捐款工具，但同时也被看作是印度民主中最大的丑闻。
• 💡 选举债券的引入旨在减少黑钱交易，同时为企业提供合法的政治捐款方式。
• 💼 企业向政党捐款并非新鲜事，自1947年以来一直存在，但公开捐款可能会带来负面影响。
• 🤔 企业捐款可能影响政策制定，如降低进口关税，从而影响企业竞争力。
• 🛑 选举债券的三个主要问题：侵犯公民知情权、可能成为政治勒索的工具、影响选举的自由与公正。
• 🔑 选举债券允许公司匿名捐款，这可能导致资金来源不透明，增加黑钱流通。
• 🏷️ 选举债券的购买和兑换有明确的规则，如只能在SBI授权分行购买，且有兑换期限。
• 📊 根据民主改革协会的报告，2018年至2024年间，共售出价值16518亿卢比的2830张选举债券。
• 🥇 人民党（BJP）是选举债券的最大受益者，其次是TMC和国大党。

Q & A

2024年2月15日，最高法院做出了什么重要判决？

2024年2月15日，最高法院宣布匿名选举债券计划是违宪的，这一判决在印度引发了关于政治资金的重大争议。

为什么最高法院批评了印度国家银行（SBI）？

最高法院批评印度国家银行（SBI）没有披露有关选举债券的完整数据，包括捐赠者和兑换债券的政党的详细信息。

选举债券是如何被引入的，其目的是什么？

选举债券是在2017-2018年的联合预算中由当时的财政部长阿伦·杰特利引入的，目的是通过合法的数字交易方式，让企业能够向政党提供资金，同时保持匿名。

为什么企业会向政党捐款？

企业向政党捐款可能是因为希望获得政策上的支持或优惠，例如降低进口关税，从而在市场上获得竞争优势。

公开承认政治捐款有哪些缺点？

公开承认政治捐款可能会导致捐赠者的声誉受损、股价下跌以及投资者信心下降，同时促进了黑钱的流通。

选举债券的五个主要特点是什么？

选举债券的五个主要特点是：1) 任何个人或公司都可以购买；2) 发行面额为1000、10000、1万和1亿卢比的倍数；3) 购买数量没有限制；4) 只有在过去选举中获得至少1%选票的政党才能兑换；5) 只能在SBI授权分行通过支票或数字支付购买。

最高法院为什么认为选举债券计划违宪？

最高法院认为选举债券计划违反了印度公民的知情权，捐赠者隐私不应成为交换条件，且无限制的企业捐赠违反了自由和公平选举的原则，威胁到了民主。

什么是“quid pro quo”？它在选举债券争议中扮演了什么角色？

“Quid pro quo”是一个拉丁语短语，意为“这个换那个”，在选举债券争议中，它指的是政治党派可能利用选举债券进行敲诈，以换取捐赠者的某些利益或豁免。

为什么最高法院认为选举债券可能违反了自由和公平选举的原则？

最高法院认为，由于选举债券允许无限制的匿名企业捐赠，这可能导致资金的不当流动，包括黑钱和外国资金，从而影响选举的公正性。

选举债券是否可能导致大型企业和政党主导印度政治？

批评者指出，选举债券可能使大型企业和政党更容易支配印度政治，相对于小型企业和政党，这可能会加剧政治不平等。

最高法院的判决对印度政治资金的未来意味着什么？

最高法院的判决可能会导致对政治资金的更严格监管，要求更大的透明度，并可能改变企业与政治党派之间的资金流动方式。

Outlines

00:00

📜 印度选举债券争议

2024年2月15日，印度最高法院宣布匿名选举债券计划违宪，引发了关于印度政治资金的重大争议。最高法院批评印度国家银行未完全披露选举债券数据。选举债券旨在作为政治捐赠的安全工具，但同时也被认为是印度民主中最大的丑闻。一方面，它被看作是减少黑钱交易的工具；另一方面，它被看作是印度合法的敲诈手段。视频将探讨选举债券的引入原因及其对印度民主的潜在威胁。

05:01

💼 选举债券的引入与运作

选举债券于2017-2018年的印度联邦预算中由时任财政部长阿伦·贾特利引入，旨在通过合法的数字交易方式，让企业向政党提供资金，同时保护捐赠者身份。债券类似于优惠券或礼品卡，具有五大特点：任何人或公司都可购买；面额固定；无购买上限；只有得票超过1%的政党可兑换；只能在指定的SBI分行通过支票或数字支付购买。最高法院对选举债券的批评主要集中在三个问题上：违反了印度公民的知情权；捐赠者隐私不应成为交换条件；以及无限额的企业捐赠破坏了自由和公平的选举。

10:01

🏦 选举债券与黑钱及政治影响

选举债券可能被用作获取不公平利益的工具，即所谓的'交换条件'。例如，如果一家公司因洗钱被执法局调查，执政党可能利用此信息迫使公司通过选举债券进行捐赠，以换取调查的放松。此外，一些公司的实际资本和收入与其捐赠金额不成比例，引发了关于这些公司是否有大公司背后支持的疑问。最高法院认为，选举债券可能导致大量黑钱通过不正当渠道进入政治选举过程，影响选举的公正性。

15:02

🌐 选举债券对民主的潜在威胁

最高法院对选举债券的第三个批评点是，它们可能使外国公司更容易影响印度选举。在选举债券制度下，资金转移变得更加容易，这可能导致外国资金流入并影响选举结果。此外，选举债券可能有利于大党和大公司，相对于小党和小型商人，这可能不利于印度政治的多元化。视频最后呼吁观众根据自己的理解判断选举债券的伦理性，并鼓励订阅频道获取更多商业和政治案例分析。

Keywords

💡选举债券

选举债券是一种金融工具，由印度政府在2017年的联盟预算中推出，旨在通过合法的数字交易方式，让企业向政党提供资金。在视频中，选举债券被讨论为印度政治资金的一大争议点，因为它们允许匿名捐款，从而引发了关于黑钱、政治透明度和民主健康的辩论。

💡最高法院

最高法院在视频中扮演了关键角色，因为它宣布选举债券计划违反宪法。这一裁决基于选举债券违反了印度公民的知情权、捐赠者隐私不应成为交换条件，以及无限企业捐赠破坏了自由和公平的选举。

💡政治资金

政治资金是指政党和政治候选人为竞选活动和其他政治活动所获得的资金。在视频中，政治资金的来源和透明度成为争议的焦点，特别是在讨论选举债券如何影响政治资金的合法性和透明度时。

💡黑钱

黑钱通常指非法来源或未申报的资金。在视频中，黑钱通过选举债券的使用被暗示为可能被合法化，因为这些债券允许匿名捐款，这可能导致黑钱在政治过程中的循环使用。

💡国家银行

国家银行（State Bank of India，简称SBI）在视频中被提及，因为它是发行选举债券的唯一银行，并且在披露有关选举债券的完整数据方面受到了最高法院的批评。

💡政治透明性

政治透明性是指政治过程和决策的公开性，包括资金来源。视频中提到，选举债券由于允许匿名捐款，可能破坏了政治透明性，从而影响了民主的健康。

💡信息权

信息权是指公民获取政府信息的权利。视频中提到，选举债券违反了印度公民的知情权，因为它们允许隐藏政治捐款者的身份，从而剥夺了公民了解政治资金来源的能力。

💡企业捐赠

企业捐赠是指企业向政党或政治候选人提供的捐款。在视频中，企业捐赠通过选举债券的方式被讨论，这些债券允许企业在不公开身份的情况下进行捐赠，引发了关于公平性和透明度的争议。

💡政治影响

政治影响是指通过资金或其他手段影响政治决策或结果的能力。视频中提到，选举债券可能使企业或外国实体通过匿名捐款影响印度的选举，这被视为对民主的威胁。

💡民主改革协会

民主改革协会是一个推动政治透明度和选举改革的组织。在视频中，该协会发布的报告显示，在2018年至2024年间，选举债券的销售额达到了16518亿卢比，其中印度人民党是最大的受益者。

💡政治献金

政治献金是指个人或团体向政治人物或政党提供的金钱支持。视频中讨论了政治献金的合法性和道德性，特别是在选举债券允许匿名捐款的情况下，这可能导致利益冲突和政治腐败。

Highlights

2024年2月15日，最高法院宣布匿名选举债券计划违宪，引发了关于印度政治资金的重大争议。

最高法院批评印度国家银行未完全披露选举债券的完整数据。

选举债券旨在作为政治捐赠的安全工具，但同时被认为是印度民主中最大的骗局。

选举债券被认为既是遏制黑钱交易的工具，也是印度合法敲诈的法律工具。

选举债券由NDA政府在2017-18年的联合预算中引入，以解决黑钱问题。

企业向政党捐款并非新鲜事，自1947年以来一直存在。

选举债券的设计类似于优惠券或礼品卡，具有五大属性。

选举债券只能在SBI授权分行通过支票或数字支付购买。

2018年至2024年间，共售出价值1651.8亿卢比的2830张选举债券。

人民党（BJP）是选举债券的最大受益者，占所有政党捐款的47.5%。

最高法院认为选举债券违反了印度公民的知情权。

选举债券可能被用作敲诈勒索的工具，以换取政治利益。

存在疑问，选举债券的捐赠是否与执法局的调查有关。

一些公司捐赠的金额与其资本和收入不成比例，引发质疑。

选举债券可能导致无限制的企业捐赠，违反自由和公平的选举原则。

选举债券可能使外国公司更容易影响印度选举。

大党和大公司可能通过选举债券主导印度政治，对小党和商人不利。

无论哪个领域，大玩家总是比小玩家有优势。

Transcripts

hi everybody on 15th of February 2024

the Supreme Court passed a landmark

judgment and declared that the anonymous

electoral Bond scheme was

unconstitutional and this parked a major

controversy about the political funding

in India electoral bonds after all the

delays all the legal tussles and all the

political fights the data is out the

Supreme Court there slamming the SBI the

State Bank of India for not disclosing

uh the full data when it comes to the

Electoral bonds a five judge and crabbed

India's electoral bonds they have to

just submit the details of the donors

and the details of the parties which

redeemed the bonds on the other hand on

one side while the Electoral bonds are

considered to be a safe instrument of

political donation on the other side

this electoral Bond scheme is considered

to be the biggest scam in Democratic

India while on one side it is considered

to be an instrument to curve black money

transactions on the other side it is

considered to be a legal instrument of

extortion in India electoral Bond

extra so as usual let's break through

this chaos and understand step by step

what exactly are these electoral bonds

why were they introduced by the NDA

government and what exactly is there

disadv Advantage because of which it is

now considered to be a threat to the

Democracy of India so as usual we will

put out both sides of the argument so

that you can decide which side you want

to favor and by the way a kind request

to all the haters is that please watch

the video till the end and then drop a

comment because a lot of people make a

judgment with just the first half of the

video if this is clear to you let's get

started but before we move on I want to

quickly thank our partners of today's

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now people electoral Bonds were

introduced in the union budget of 2017

and 18 by our then Finance Minister Arun

jle electoral

bonds

so the first question we need to answer

is what exactly are these electoral

bonds and why were they introduced as we

all know India is known for its black

money transactions and this black money

was being used as an instrument by the

corporations to make political donations

now some people might call this donation

evil regardless of whether it is done in

black or white and today if I declare

that I am donating 10 lakh rupes to the

Amad party all the BJP supporters and

Congress supporters will start hating me

but the reality is that business and

political funding have always worked

hand inand so if they are legitimate

it's good if not then it is bad for

India but at the end of the day both

business and politics are two

interdependent pillars of the market I

repeat business business and politics

are two interdependent pillars of the

market and businesses donating money to

political parties is not a new thing at

all it has been happening since

1947 so the question is why do these

businesses donate money to the political

parties and does it mean that they get

unfair favors well let me explain let's

say you are a solar panel manufacturer

and you import your raw materials from

China and the current government has

imposed an import duty of 100% such that

the cost of your panel is shooting up

from $100 to

$200 and because of this cost shoot up

you are not able to compete with your

European competitor who is able to sell

the same panels at $150 but now if

Congress comes up and declares that they

will slash the import Duty on the

Chinese imported raw materials for solar

panels what does it mean it means that

if Congress comes to power then your

cost of solar panels will drop from $200

to $100 per panel so if this comes true

you can beat your European competitors

and you can make hundreds of crores by

selling panels to Europe so in this case

my question to you is what would you do

you will obviously donate to Congress so

that Congress can come to power remove

the import Duty and you could sell

hundreds of crores worth of products to

Europe right but the problem over here

is that if you donate money to political

parties openly then your Indian bjb

customers might start boycotting you or

sometimes a local politician might come

and threaten you and even worse if

you're a public listed company then

you're stocks will come crashing down so

now the question is in this given

scenario will you stop donating to

congress not at all you will still

donate to Congress it's just that you

will now make a donation in cash so that

nobody knows that you donated and still

your favorite party could win and when

hundreds of such companies fund their

favorite political party with thousands

of crores of donation in untraceable

cash black money is circulated and

eventually the Indian economy gets

affected

so there are three disadvantages to

openly admitting to political donations

number one the reputation of the donors

is which leads to loss in brand value

number two it might also lead to stock

dumping and the deterioration of

investors confidence and lastly because

of these consequences black money gets

circulated in the form of cash for

political funding so in the union budget

of 201718 electoral Bonds were

introduced to make sure that political

parties can get funding from businesses

through a legitimate digital transaction

and at the same time the companies only

have to declare that they have bought

electoral bonds without the need to

reveal which party they donated to the

way these bonds work is very similar to

our coupons or gift cards and they have

five major attributes firstly any person

or company can buy these bonds secondly

these bonds are issued in multiples of

th000 10,000 1 lakh and 1 CR rupes

thirdly there is no limit as to how many

of these bonds can be bought number four

only those parties which have secured a

minimum of 1% votes in the previous

election can encash these bonds and last

these bonds could be bought only at

authorized SBI branches with check or

digital payment only so you cannot buy

these bonds with cash so if I bought a

bond worth 1 CR Rupees to donate to

Congress then Congress can use the bond

like a coupon and redeem 1 CR rupees

from the bank within 15 days and if they

don't redeem it this money will get

transferred to the PM Relief Fund and

this money could be used by the Congress

for their campaigns this is how

electoral bonds work if this is clear to

let's come to the present scenario as

per a report by the Association of

democratic reforms a total of 28,30

electoral bonds worth

16,5 18 crores were sold between 2018

and 2024 and when we dug deeper into the

papers that have been released by The

SBI we understood the following things

firstly the bhartia janata party or the

BJP they have emerged as the top

beneficiary of electoral bonds wherein

they have encashed bonds worth 6,60

point 5 crores between April 2019 and

January

2024 this amount is the highest among

all political parties and BJP alone has

a total share of

47.5% of the donations similarly TMC

secured the second spot with

1,695 CR rupees and Congress got 1,

14219 CR rupees so now the question over

here is if these Bonds were curbing the

circulation of black money and still

gave a legitimate instrument to the

corporates for donation then why did the

Supreme Court call them

unconstitutional well the Supreme Court

ruled against this law for three main

reasons firstly it went against the

right to information of Indian citizens

secondly it said that the donor privacy

should not be made as a quidd pro Co

measure don't worry about it I'll

explain it in sometime and lastly it

said that unlimited corporate donations

violate free and fair elections and

hence it hinders the very thread of our

democracy so now let's understand each

of these reasons elaborately the first

reason is pretty straightforward where

the court said that the Electoral bonds

went against the right to information of

Indian citizens so in short if an

important piece of information like this

large scale donation to a political

party is kept away from the citizens it

is against the right to Information Act

if this is clear to you let's come to

the second reason to understand the

second reason we first need to

understand what is quidd proo quid proo

is a Latin phrase which means something

for something in this case the theory is

that electoral bonds could be used to

get unfair favors for example if pran's

company gets rated by the enforcement

directorate for moneya laundering then

the theory says that the political party

in power could blackmail prii to make

her donate 10 CR rupees using the

Electoral Bond and in exchange for this

donation they will let panry go so this

way a political party could use

extortion to get funding from businesses

this is the reason why in Twitter you

must have seen a lot of people make

connections between the Ed rates and the

donations made by these companies for

example at least 14 out of the top 30

companies which purchased electoral

bonds from 2019 to 2024 they faced an

action by the Central and state probe

agencies now mind you we cannot prove

whether the Ed rates and the purchase of

bonds are interdependent or not because

there could be two possible scenarios

in the first scenario the money could be

given before the Ed rate for example

vanta bought bonds between 2019 and 2022

but the Ed rates probing money

laundering in vidanta happened in 2022

and in the second scenario the money

could be given after the Ed rates for

example Ed began a money laundering

probe against future gaming in 2022 on

assets worth 49.92 crores and just 5

days after that future gaming bought 100

crores in electoral bonds and just these

two companies are amongst the top five

buyers of electoral bonds similarly the

fourth largest buyer of electoral bonds

is halia energy and they had been booked

by the CBI in 2020 in a case of alleged

corruption then we understood that halia

energy purchased bonds worth 377 crores

between 2019 and 2024 and just like this

there's a long list of 10 odd companies

the list of which I will give you in the

description so you can check it out and

then you can make a judgment but the

fact over here that we need to

understand is that there is no Clarity

on three things whether the Ed let them

go because they donated money or the Ed

let them go because they were not guilty

or the Ed has not let them go at all so

until now these two events that is the

companies donating via electoral Bond

and Ed raid these two are isolated

events and until the high court or the

Supreme Court makes a judgment we cannot

draw a correlation between these events

even though the theory of making these

connections sounds very very interesting

but at the end of the day if you ask me

is this quid pro Co Arrangement possible

absolutely yes and lastly critics point

out that there are some companies whose

total share capital and revenue are just

too low for the amount of donations that

they have made for example quid supply

chain private limited was the third

largest buyer of electoral bonds at 410

CR rupees between fi 22 and fi 24 now

this is a private company that was

created in the year 2000 with a share

capital of 13.99 crores and paid up

capital capital of 129.99 cror that's

261 cror in total and in F22 its net

profit was only 21.72 crores with a

revenue of over 500 crores in fi23 so

critics point out that for this company

to have bought electoral bonds worth 360

crores in a single Financial year of

fy22 it does not look practical and it

makes more sense if this company has a

backing from some large company and when

we look deeper we found that according

to Hindu business line quck is a

manufacturer of warehouses and storage

units and this company has links to

Reliance Industries but Reliance has

come out very clearly and clarified that

it is not a subsidiary of any Reliance

entity and here's where the facts get

hazy so we don't know anything beyond

this point if this is very very clear to

you let's come to the third reason which

says that unlimited corporate donations

violate free and fair elections so let's

understand this better you see before

2017 the companies could contribute 7.5

% of their average net profit over the

past 3 years but after electoral bonds

since companies could donate unlimited

amounts of money with anonymity it

opened up the possibility of shell

companies which could be used only to

rotate funds so it is said that these

electoral bonds could be used to channel

undocumented black money into the

political and electoral process of India

now the counterargument to this is that

if the government bans anonymity then

companies can still give cash right and

they can still fund political parties

and still ask for favors right well

unfortunately our system is not

foolproof enough to prevent cash

entirely it's just that with electoral

bonds it just becomes a little easier to

donate large amounts of money in

exchange for favors thirdly electoral

bonds make it easier for foreign

companies to spend money in Indian

elections and influence our elections

and again back when cash was used it

became difficult to transfer large

amounts of money but through electoral

bonds it was is possible to transfer a

lot of money and then influence the

elections so if this information is kept

away from the public then there is a

very high possibility that a rich

country might just pour in billions of

dollars and influence the elections in

India and this is considered to be a

threat to our democracy and again while

this influence is still possible through

a complex mechanism it's just a tad bit

more difficult and lastly critics also

point out that big parties and big

corporations together can dominate

Indian Politics as opposed to small

parties and small businessmen so in a

way it is evidently favoring bigger

Powers over smaller ones but if you ask

me my humble opinion is that no matter

which field or domain you pick the

bigger players no matter what will

always have an upper hand over the

smaller players whether that is YouTube

politics or business this is what we

could make out from why the Supreme

Court ruled against the Electoral bonds

so as usual now you can decide what is

ethical and what is not and who is right

and who is wrong but I just hope you

learn something valuable about business

and politics from this case study that's

all from my side for today guys if you

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thank you so much for watching I will

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