When will Election Commission disclose electoral bonds data? CEC Rajiv Kumar says ’I’ll look at the data and...’
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar reacted to the electoral bonds case on Wednesday. He said the Election Commission has been “in favour of transparency”.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) chief Rajiv Kumar said on Wednesday that the poll body will disclose all details on electoral bonds in time. During a press conference, Kumar said the State Bank of India (SBI) submitted electoral bond details to the Election Commission “yesterday (March 12) in time.
“I'll go back, look at the data and would definitely disclose it in time,” Kumar said. He noted that the Supreme Court had directed the SBI to submit details of the electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 12.
He said the Election Commission has been “in favour of transparency”.
“…we said in the court that we are in favour of transparency...anything we do in the commission and anything our district magistrate down the line in the elctions process too is based on...disclosure...disclose everything to the public and voter...the commission has always been in favour of transparency and that was our stand in the electoral bonds case also…,” CEC Rajiv Kumar said.
His statement came hours after the chairman of State Bank of India (SBI) filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, saying the data has been furnished in respect of bonds purchased and redeemed between April 12, 2019 to February 15, 2024.
The Supreme Court had struck down the Centre's Electoral Bonds Scheme in February which allowed for anonymous funding to political parties. The court had also ordered the SBI to stop issuing Electoral Bonds immediately.
The court had even asked the SBI to furnish details about each Electoral Bonds encashed by the political parties, which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of electoral bond, by March 6. The Election Commission was asked to publish the information on its official website by March 13.
However, the SBI has sought extension of the deadline from March 6 to June 30, after the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. In a setback to the SBI, the Supreme Court dismissed its application seeking extension of time till June 30 and asked the bank to disclose the details by March 12.
What SBI said in its affidavit
The SBI said that the data has been furnished in respect of bonds purchased and redeemed between April 12, 2019 to February 15, 2024. “A total number of 22,217 bonds were purchased during the period April 1, 2019 till February 15, 2024,” the SBI informed the Supreme Court.
"From April 1 to 11, 2019 total number of Electoral Bonds purchased were 3346 and total number of bonds redeemed were 1609," news agency PTI reported while citing the affidavit.
The SBI further told the court that from April 12, 2019 to February 15, 2024 total number of Electoral Bonds purchased 18,871 and total number of bonds redeemed were 20,421.
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First Published:13 Mar 2024, 06:08 PM IST
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