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Supreme Court asks SBI to disclose unique numbers of electoral bonds
The Supreme Court rules that SBI failed to disclose the unique numbers of electoral bonds as required and has asked the bank to file a response on Monday
The Supreme Court on Friday told the State Bank of India (SBI) that it has to disclose the electoral bond numbers along with all the details regarding the bonds as directed by the court. "It has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India," said Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud.
It is to be noted that a unique identifier is crucial for matching donations to parties accurately.
In another plea filed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the case, the Supreme Court ordered the return of sealed covers containing information on the electoral bonds submitted to the court to the ECI. The court directed the judicial registrar to digitize the data from the sealed covers by 5 pm on Saturday and return the original sealed cover to the ECI along with the digitized copy.
The ECI asserted that it did not retain any copies of these documents to maintain confidentiality and sought the return of the sealed envelopes to proceed with the required actions.
The apex court on 11 February directed SBI to share the required information by the close of business hours on 12 March. Additionally, the top court ordered the ECI to publish the details of the bonds, previously submitted in a sealed cover to the court, on its website by 15 March.
Following these orders, the SBI submitted the details of electoral bonds to the EC on 12 March. Consequently, yesterday, the EC made the electoral bonds data public as per the court's directives.
According to the published list, top donors to political parties include major corporates such as Grasim Industries, Megha Engineering, and Piramal Enterprises. The list also includes Apollo Tyres, Lakshmi Mittal, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wine, Welspun, and Sun Pharma. Torrent Power, Bharti Airtel, DLF Commercial Developers, and Vedanta Ltd are also among the leading contributors to political parties.
Additionally, a lesser-known entity, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, currently under scrutiny by the Enforcement Directorate, emerged as a significant buyer of electoral bonds worth over ₹1,350 crore.
Various political parties, including the BJP, Congress, AIADMK, Shiv Sena, TDP, and others, redeemed electoral bonds. The BJP received the highest contributions through electoral bonds, amounting to ₹6,566 crore, or 54.77%, followed by the Congress with ₹1,123 crore, or 9.37%, and Trinamool Congress with ₹1,092 crore, or 9.11%.
The unanimous judgment by the constitution bench on 15 February marked the end of the controversial electoral bonds scheme. The court had directed SBI to provide details of bond buyers, purchase dates, and donation amounts to the ECI by 6 March and asked the EC to publish this information on its website by 13 March.
However, SBI filed a plea for an extension until 30 June. The SBI stated in its plea that it needs more time as between 12 April 2019 and 15 February 2024, a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were utilized for donations to various political parties.
On 7 March, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Communist Party of India (Marxist), filed pleas seeking to initiate contempt proceedings against SBI and its chairman for not complying with the court’s deadline of 6 March to disclose the electoral bond details.
Introduced in the 2017 Union budget, the electoral bonds scheme allowed citizens and companies to anonymously donate any amount to political parties. While the government argued that donors’ anonymity was meant to prevent retribution, critics said it violated citizens’ right to know how political parties were being funded. Bond case now on Monday.
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First Published:15 Mar 2024, 10:51 AM IST
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