New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) The State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that it has submitted all electoral bonds data including the alpha-numeric identification details attached to such bonds, to the Election Commission of India
In a fresh affidavit filed on Thursday in compliance with the apex court's March 18 order, SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara stated that all necessary information has been given to the ECI.
In the affidavit, Khara affirmed that "in compliance of the March 18, 2024 order of the Supreme Court of India all information has been provided to the Election Commission of India.
"It bears repetition that the SBI is now revealing information along with that already disclosed," the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, the information furnished by the SBI includes the denomination and the specific number of the bond, the name of the party that has encashed it, the last four digits of the bank account number of political parties and the denomination and number of the bond encashed.
The ECI now has to upload the data on its website, as per the Supreme Court's directions.
The matter pertains to the electoral bonds scheme announced by the Government which had allowed donors to anonymously send funds to a political party after buying bearer bonds from SBI.
It was introduced through the Finance Act, 2017, which in turn amended three other statutes - the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Income Tax Act and the Representation of People Act.
Various petitions were filed before the top court challenging at least five amendments made to different statutes through the Finance Act, 2017 on the ground that they have opened doors to unlimited, unchecked funding of political parties.
Nearly seven years later, on February 15, the Supreme Court quashed the electoral bond scheme and directed SBI to submit the details of the political parties that have received contributions through such bonds from April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The Supreme Court on March 11, rejected the SBI's request for an extension of date till June 30 to disclose the details of bonds purchased and enchased.
The Supreme Court warned SBI that it would impose contempt charges if they failed to provide the details by the next day, i.e March 12.
The apex court directed that the SBI should funish ame of the purchaser, denomination of electoral bonds, details of each electoral bond redeemed by political parties including the date of encashment.
The apex court after it noted that the bond numbers have not been disclosed, on March 15 again passed stringent directions to SBI to furnish the details of the bonds along with the alphanumeric numbers attached to it.
The apex court had warned SBI of grave consequences for failing to furnish the details within a stipulated time. UNI SNG AKS SSP