SBI submits complete electoral bond data to ECI
The State Bank of India (SBI) has filed a compliance affidavit in the Supreme Court, stating that it has disclosed all information on electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI). This move came after the apex court told the SBI on Monday to "disclose all details" on the purchase and redemption of electoral bonds, including their unique alphanumeric codes, to the ECI. It also asked the bank to submit a compliance affidavit by Thursday, 5:00pm.
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With this submission, the SBI has disclosed all the details of electoral bonds sold and redeemed between April 12, 2019 and February 15, 2024 to the ECI, as directed by the apex court. The ECI last uploaded electoral bond-related documents that it received from the SBI in sealed covers on Sunday (March 17). However, the unique numbers were not submitted, and without them, there was no way to link the lists and determine which donor contributed to which party.
Details on electoral bonds furnished by the SBI
The details given by the SBI on Thursday are expected to be uploaded by the ECI on its website shortly. The details furnished by the SBI on electoral bonds include date of encashment, name of political party, bond number, denomination, last four digits of the account number, and payment branch code. Details of the electoral bond purchaser, including URN number, journal date, date of purchase, date of expiry, name of the purchaser, issue branch code, and status, are also included.
Supreme Court struck down EBS last month
In a landmark ruling in February, a five-judge constitution court declared the electoral bond scheme (EBS) "unconstitutional" and ordered the SBI to disclose contributors by March 12. However, the SBI sought an extension of time until June 30 to release the data. The court denied the SBI's extension application on March 11 and ordered it to give the information to the ECI by the following day. On March 12, the SBI disclosed the details of bond purchasers and recipients.
Electoral bond data second list was released on March 17
The second list of electoral bond data was released on March 17. The newly published data was reportedly likely from the period before April 12, 2019. According to the second list, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received the most donations during the fiscal year 2019-2020. The EC data showed that of the total Rs. 6,986.5 crore in donations received by the BJP via electoral bonds, the maximum amount of Rs. 2,555 crore was received in fiscal year 2019-20.
