In accordance with the Supreme Court order, the State Bank of India on Tuesday submitted details of electoral bonds. The bank has issued Electoral Bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018.
The bank’s Chairman and Managing Director, however, has not yet filed the affidavit confirming compliance with the court order. According to reports, the affidavit is ready and will be submitted on Wednesday.
Upon receipt of the information from the bank, the Election Commission of India must publish all the details by 5 PM on March 15.
In a race against time, the SBI’s application in the Supreme Court seeking extension till 30 June, 2024, to disclose the details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties was rejected on Monday.
As mandated by the top court, SBI which is the authorised financial institution under the scheme was directed to submit the details of all electoral bonds sold from 2019 to 2024 by the close of business hours on 12 March, 2024.
The scheme of Electoral Bond was introduced in The Finance Bill, 2017 during Union Budget 2017-18. It allowed individuals and corporate groups to donate unlimited amounts of money to any political party anonymously. Electoral bonds, under the electoral bond scheme, were purchased by donors in fixed denominations from SBI and handed over to any political party that could cash them.
What is SBI Electoral Bond controversy?
Last month on 15th of February, the Supreme Court of India countermanded the electoral bonds scheme declaring it unconstitutional and saying that anonymous electoral bonds are violative of the right to information and Article 19(1)(a).
Post this the apex court ordered the issuing bank, SBI to submit the details of electoral bonds purchased since 12 April, 2019, to the ECI by 06 March, 2024.
The country’s largest lender then submitted an application asking for extension of the deadline stating that due to the stringent measures adopted by the bank to keep the names of the donors anonymous, “decoding” the electoral bonds and the matching of the donor to the donations made would be a “complex process”.
The SC clarified that it need not do any such matching and it would have to submit the details that are readily available with it.
A bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra was hearing SBI’s extension plea along with contempt petitions filed by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Common Cause, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) against the public sector bank over its non-disclosure of vital details related to the bonds, LiveLaw reported.
“Our judgment was issued on February 15. Today, it is March 11. In the last 26 days, what is the extent of matching done by you? The affidavit is silent on this. We expect a degree of candour from the State Bank of India,” the court said.
The details required include the date of purchase, name of purchaser and denomination of each electoral bond. Additionally, details of bonds cashed by political parties, including the date of such encashment, were also required.
CJI Chandrachud had also warned that the court would be inclined to proceed against the bank for wilfully disobeying its order in the event of non-compliance with the latest directions.
