SC firm, tells SBI to share poll bond details today

Court dismisses bank’s plea seeking time till June 30 to give EC the details, says the information is ‘readily available’; Commission must publish the data on its website by 5 p.m. on March 15

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an application by the State Bank of India (SBI) for time till June 30 to provide details of electoral bonds purchased anonymously and their encashment by political parties.

A fivejudge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, which on February 15 struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional, gave the bank 24 hours, that is, by the close of business hours on March 12, to provide the details to the Election Commission (EC).

The court said the information on electoral bonds required to be divulged by the judgment was “readily available” with the bank. Once the bank forwards the details, the EC has to compile and publish the data on its website on March 15 by 5 p.m.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, for the SBI, explained that matching the bonds purchased and names of donors with the parties that redeemed the bonds was a “timeconsuming and complex” exercise. Details were kept in two separate silos and not stored in a digital format. The judgment had capsized the “core purpose” of the electoral bonds scheme, which was “utmost secrecy”. “We have to reverse the whole process”, Mr. Salve argued.

But Chief Justice Chandrachud said the judgment had not asked the bank to “match” information to ascertain who contributed to which political parties. “We had only asked you to do a plain disclosure... We just wanted you to comply with the judgment.”