India's top court scraps electoral bonds, calls them 'unconstitutional'

India's Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped a seven year-old election funding system that allows individuals and companies to donate money to political parties anonymously and without any limits.

The decision is seen as a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been the largest beneficiary of the system it introduced in 2017.

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The system, called 'Electoral Bonds', was challenged by opposition members and a civil society group on grounds that it hindered the public's right to know who had given money to political parties.

Under the system, a person or company can buy these bonds from the state-run State Bank of India and donate them to a political party of their choice.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the system is "unconstitutional".

The court directed SBI to not issue any more of these bonds.

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