Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], April 16 : Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said that the verdict of Supreme Court on the matter of electoral bonds should be respected as "it is the highest body and has to be respected".
The remarks came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview with ANI, accused the opposition parties of "spreading lies" over the electoral bonds scheme and said "everyone will regret it when there is an honest reflection".
Speaking to ANI, DK Shivakumar said, "The Supreme Court has given the decision. We all have to bow to the decision of the Supreme Court because that is the highest body which we all have to respect. So I hope everyone in this country will respect and accept the decision on the verdict of the Supreme Court."
The Supreme Court in February this year struck down the electoral bond scheme and said it was unconstitutional.
In its decision, the Supreme Court asked the SBI to stop issuing electoral bonds. In compliance with a directive from the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India (ECI) uploaded data on electoral bonds on its official website. The data was provided by the State Bank of India (SBI) on the directions of the apex court.
In an interview with ANI, PM Modi said the electoral bonds scheme was aimed at curbing black money in elections and said the opposition wants to run away after making allegations.
He said of the 16 companies that gave donations when action was taken by probe agencies, only 37 per cent of the amount went to the BJP and 63 per cent to opposition parties opposed to the BJP.
"This is the success story of electoral bonds, there were electoral bonds, so you are getting a trail which company gave, how it gave, and where it gave. Whether what happened in the process was good or bad can be an issue of debate....I never say that there is no shortcoming in decision-making. We learn after discussing and improving. There is a lot of scope for improvement in this as well. But today we have completely pushed the country towards black money, hence, I say everyone will regret it. When they think honestly, everyone will regret it," PM Modi said.