Direct SBI & ECI To Disclose Details Of Electoral Bonds Worth Rs 4K Crores Sold Before April 2019 : Plea In Supreme Court

An application has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to disclose the details of the electoral bonds which were sold between March 1, 2018 to April 11, 2019.

Presently, the Supreme Court has directed the disclosure of the electoral bonds sold between the period April 12, 2019, till February 15, 2024.

The applicant "Citizens for Rights Trust" submitted that 9,159 bonds worth Rs 4002 crores have been sold between March 2018 to April 2019, which should also be disclosed.

The applicant sought a direction to the State Bank of India to share the details of bonds sold and redeemed from March 1, 2018, to April 11, 2019, including the alphanumeric number, date of purchase, denomination, names of donors and parties to the ECI. After getting this information from the SBI, the Election Commission of India should publicise them on their website.

Referring to a news article published by Scroll.in based on an RTI application, the applicant stated that the State Bank of India has issued 28,030 bonds worth Rs 16,518 crores since March 2018. However, only the information relating to 18,871 bonds accounting for Rs 12,516 crores (issued between April 12, 2019, to February 15, 2024) have been uploaded by the Election Commission of India after the same was shared by the SBI.

Thus, information in respect of 9,159 bonds worth Rs. 4,002 crores has not been disclosed, the applicant highlighted.

Relevance of the date April 12, 2019

On April 12, 2019, the Supreme Court had passed an interim order directing the ECI to submit before it in a sealed cover the details of the donations received by the political parties through Electoral Bonds. On February 15, while declaring the Electoral Bonds scheme to be unconstitutional, the Supreme Court directed the SBI to disclose the details of bonds sold from April 12, 2019. The ECI was also directed to upload on its website the details submitted to the Supreme Court in sealed covers.

The applicant, which had earlier intervened in the Electoral Bonds case,  argued that once the Bond Scheme has been found to be unconstitutional, voters are entitled to know the details of all purchases from the inception.

"Once the entire Electoral Bond Scheme is held to be violative of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, the citizens are entitled to know the details of the donor and done of the entire period from March 2018 onwards (the date when the scheme became functional). The data available on the platform of the Election Commission represents only 76% of the total bonds and the voters are not aware of the details of the remaining 24% of the Electoral Bonds," the application filed through Advocate-on-Record Sneha Kalita stated.

The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, is hearing the Electoral Bonds case tomorrow to decide the issue whether the SBI should also disclose the unique numbers associated with the bonds. On Friday, the Court had taken exception to the SBI not disclosing the bond numbers, without which it is not possible to link the donors with the recipients. Orally observing that the bond numbers also have to be disclosed, the Court issued notice to the SBI.