NEW DELHI, Mar 12: In compliance with the Supreme Court order on Monday, the State Bank of India (SBI) sent details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday evening. The poll panel has confirmed that the SBI submitted the data regarding electoral bonds.
The SC has also mandated the ECI to publish the details shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15. According to sources, the SBI has complied with the orders of the apex court and submitted the details of the electoral bonds to the EC. The SBI has issued electoral bonds worth ₹16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018.
The Supreme Court in a landmark verdict on February 15 had scrapped the electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and recipients.
SBI had sought time till June 30 for disclosure of the details. Its plea, however, was rejected by the apex court, and it asked the bank to submit all details to the EC by the close of working hours on Tuesday. Electoral bonds were introduced as a substitute for cash donations made to political parties with the aim of enhancing transparency in political funding.
The first sale of electoral bonds took place in March 2018. Electoral bonds were to be redeemed exclusively by an eligible political party through an authorised bank account, and the SBI was the sole authorised bank for issuing these bonds.
The bank’s Chairman and Managing Director, however, has not yet filed the affidavit confirming compliance with the court order. Sources said the affidavit was ready and would be submitted on Wednesday.
Earlier seeking time till June 30, the bank had argued it would take considerable time to collect, cross-check and release the data, which was stored in two “silos” to maintain confidentiality of both sides. “We need a little more time to comply. We were told this is supposed to be a secret,” the bank had said.
In response the Supreme Court pointed out donor details were available at the SBI’s Mumbai branch, and the bank just had to “open covers, collate details and give information.” “We had not told you to do the matching exercise. We have asked you for a plain disclosure,” the Chief Justice rapped SBI.
(Manas Dasgupta)