SBI Furnishes Electoral Bonds Details To ECI After Supreme Court Rebuke

This was announced by the commission on social media platform 'X' (formerly Twitter) by the Spokesperson of ECI at 7:17 PM today. The update reads:

"In compliance of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's directions to the SBI, contained in its order dated February 15 and March 11, 2024 (in the matter of Writ Petition (Civil) No. 880 of 2017), data on electoral bonds has been supplied by State Bank of India to Election Commission of India, today, March 12, 2024."

This announcement comes on the heels of the Supreme Court's dismissal of the State Bank's application for an extension of time to submit electoral bonds details to the poll panel yesterday.

A five-judge bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud concluded that the requisite information was readily available with the bank, and rebuffed attempts by the issuing bank to get the deadline extended on grounds of the complexity of compiling the data.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Harish Salve attempted to highlight the challenges faced by the bank in reconciling donor details and redemption details, allegedly stored in separate information silos. Despite these submissions, the court was firm in its stance, asserting that the bank had the necessary details, as indicated by its KYC records.

The order, pronounced by the chief justice, noted, “…The State Bank of India has submitted that the donor details and redemption details are available, albeit in separate silos. In other words, the direction issued by this court requires the bank to disclose information which is already available with it.”

Additionally, while refusing to initiate contempt proceedings against the SBI at the moment, the court cautioned that it would proceed against the bank for wilful disobedience if it fails to comply with the latest directions. The relevant portion of the order states –

“The State Bank of India shall file an affidavit of its chairperson and managing director on compliance with the directions issued above. While we are not inclined to exercise the contempt jurisdiction at this time, we place the State Bank of India on notice that this court may be inclined to proceed against it for wilful disobedience if it does not comply with the timelines indicated in this order.”

In response to the court's directives, the State Bank of India has now furnished the details requested by the Election Commission of India. These details include crucial information such as the date of purchase of each electoral bond, the name of the purchaser, and the denomination of the bonds purchased. Additionally, details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties, including the date of encashment, have also been provided.

Importantly, the Election Commission of India has been directed to compile this information and publish it on their website by 5 PM on March 15, 2024.

On February 15, a Supreme Court constitution bench declared the electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional, holding that the anonymous nature of electoral bonds violated the right to information protected under Article 19(1)(a). This decision prompted the court to direct the State Bank of India to cease issuing electoral bonds and to submit details of bond purchases since April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission of India within three weeks, i.e., March 6.

Days before the deadline was set to expire, the State Bank of India moved an application seeking an extension of time. Following this, various parties, including Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Common Cause, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), filed contempt petitions against it for its non-disclosure of vital details related to electoral bonds.