Supreme Court Asks ECI To Publish Details Of Electoral Bonds Encashed By Political Parties

A. The issuing bank(State Bank of India) shall herewith stop the issuance of electoral bonds.

B. The State Bank of India shall submit the details of electoral bonds purchased since the interim order of the Court dated April 12, 2019 till date to the Election Commission of India. The details shall include the date of purchase of each electoral bond, the name of the purchaser of the bond and the denomination of the electoral bond purchased.

C.The  State Bank of India shall submit the details of the political parties which have received contributions through electoral bonds since the interim order dated April 12, 2019 till date to the ECI. SBI must disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by the political parties, which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of the electoral bond.

D. The SBI shall submit the above information to the ECI within three weeks from today, ie by March 6.

E. The ECI shall publish the information received from the SBI on its website by March 13, 2024.

F. Electoral Bonds which are within the validity period of 15 days but which have not been encashed by the political parties yet shall be returned by the political party to the purchaser. The issuing bank shall then refund the amount to the purchaser's account.

A 5-judge comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra delivered the judgment on a batch of writ petitions filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Dr Jaya Thakur.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, Advocate Shadan Farasat, Advocate Nizam Pasha, Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde appeared for the petitioners.

Attorney General for India R Venkataramani and Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta appeared for the Union.

Detailed story about the judgment can be read here.

Other reports about the judgment can be read here.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 118

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