Jaya Thakur, one of the petitioners in the appeal seeking quashing of the electoral bonds scheme along with the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and CPI(M), said she was satisfied with the Supreme Court’s order to the State Bank of India on Monday.

“I am happy with this decision. The court has taken its decision considering the seriousness of this issue,” Jaya Thakur, who filed the plea through advocate Varun Thakur, said.

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the State Bank of India’s plea seeking an extension of time and directed it to furnish the details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission by the close of business hours on March 12.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud also directed the election commission to publish the details shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15.

Who is Jaya Thakur?

Jaya Thakur is associated with the Congress and she is a doctor by profession.

Media reports claimed that Jaya Thakur is a resident of Banda in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh.

Jaya Thakur is a general secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.

On Monday, Jaya Thakur filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre not to appoint two election commissioners as per the provisions of the new law enacted in December 2023 in view of the announcement of Lok Sabha polls 2024 anytime soon. Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigned on March 9, which has been accepted by the President.

In an interview to Rediff.com, Jaya Thakur expressed her observation that transparency in election funding had diminished with the introduction of the electoral bonds scheme.

“People who were donating money, their names were not being disclosed and I realised at that time (2018) that this would create a problem in the future for our democracy. And this is what happened as the BJP could not be defeated anywhere in elections. The reason being funding is a big issue for political parties to contest elections,” she was quoted as saying.

Jaya Thakur said she doesn’t think the verdict is against the Congress party’s interest. “I feel any party who gets funds from whichever corporate group, they must disclose the name of the corporate group,” she said.