SBI submits data on electoral bonds to Election Commission

A day after the Supreme Court directive, the State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday submitted to the Election Commission (EC) the details of electoral bonds purchased and encashed since April 12, 2019.

“In compliance of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s directions to the SBI, contained in its order dated Feb. 15 and March 11, 2024 (in the matter of WPC NO.880 of 2017), data on electoral bonds has been supplied by the State Bank of India to the Election Commission of India, today, March 12, 2024,” the poll body posted on X.

The Supreme Court, while striking down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional in February, had directed the SBI to submit electoral bonds data to the EC.

On Monday, the top court dismissed a plea filed by the SBI seeking time till June 30 for disclosure of such data. The court asked that the data be submitted to the EC by Tuesday. The poll body was in turn asked to publish the information on its website by 5 p.m. on March 15.

The SBI had sought an extension saying it needed time to match the buyers of the bonds with the political parties that encashed it. To this, the top court said the information on purchasers of bonds, the denomination of the bonds, and the bonds redeemed by the respective political parties were easily available and did not need matching.

Sale began in 2018

The first sale of electoral bonds took place in March 2018. Bonds worth ₹16,518 crore had been issued by the SBI since the inception of the scheme.

In an interim order on April 12, 2019, the Supreme Court asked political parties to submit details of donations via the electoral bonds in a sealed cover to the EC. On Monday, the court directed the poll body to publish this data on its website as well.

The EC sources said they would also upload the pre2019 data as directed by the top court by March 15 along with the SBI data.