Day after SC’s instruction, SBI submits election bond details to Election Commission

In a recent development, the State Bank of India (SBI) has diligently provided detailed information on buyers and recipients of the now-defunct electoral bonds to the Election Commission, aligning with the Supreme Court’s directive for transparency. The Supreme Court had mandated SBI to disclose the specifics of electoral bonds to the Election Commission by the end of business on March 12, following which the Election Commission is scheduled to make this information public on its website by late afternoon on March 15.

The Election Commission stated, “Adhering to the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s mandate issued to SBI, as per the orders dated February 15 and March 11, 2024, in the case of WPC NO.880 of 2017, we have today received the electoral bonds data from the State Bank of India, on this day, March 12, 2024.”

Insiders confirm that SBI has complied with the Supreme Court’s order and provided the electoral bonds’ information to the Election Commission. Since the scheme’s inception in 2018, SBI has issued electoral bonds totaling Rs 16,518 crore across 30 separate issuances.

In a landmark decision on February 15, the Supreme Court declared the government’s electoral bonds scheme, allowing anonymous political contributions, as “unconstitutional.” The court mandated the Election Commission to disclose donor identities, contributed sums, and beneficiaries.

The Supreme Court rejected SBI’s request for an extension until June 30 to reveal these details, insisting that the bank provide all necessary information to the Election Commission by the end of the working day on Tuesday.

Former finance secretary S C Garg criticized SBI’s delay tactics, noting that the bank’s attempt to correlate each electoral bond buyer with the corresponding political party was unnecessary, as these bonds lacked serial numbers or identifiers, making tracking specific bonds to buyers or depositors impossible.

Introduced on January 2, 2018, the electoral bonds scheme aimed to provide a cleaner alternative to cash donations for political parties, enhancing transparency in political financing. The inaugural sale of these bonds occurred in March 2018, and SBI was the only bank authorized to issue them. Only eligible political parties could redeem these bonds through authorized bank accounts, and the opportunity to purchase electoral bonds was extended to Indian citizens or entities incorporated within the nation. Qualified political parties were those that had secured at least 1% of the votes in the preceding Lok Sabha or state legislative assembly elections.