 "SBI furnishes complete electoral bond details with serial numbers to ECI")
The State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman filed the compliance affidavit in Supreme Court (SC), saying all details of Electoral Bonds, including the alphanumeric numbers, have been disclosed to the Election Commission of India (ECI), according to reports.
Earlier, on March 21, 2024, the SBI had provided all details of the Electoral Bonds in its possession to the ECI, the SBI affidavit stated. The action comes after the top Court criticised the public lender for being "selective" and ordered it to disclose all details related to the electoral bonds scheme by March 21.
The SC had demanded that the bank provide complete disclosure, including the unique bond numbers, which would reveal the link between the buyers and the recipient political parties.
A five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had said, "There is no manner of doubt that SBI is required to make a complete disclosure of all details in its possession… This, we clarify, would comprehend the alphanumeric number and the serial number, if any, of the bonds which were purchased and redeemed."
The deadline for the disclosure was set for March 21.
After the SC's stringent directive, SBI had earlier shared the information with the ECI on March 12 and presented the affidavit about the same with the apex court on March 13. Additionally, the top Court had given the ECI time till March 15 to upload the data on its website. On March 16, the ECI had published the electoral bond details provided by the SBI on its official website.
Before the SC came down heavily on SBI for trying to delay the furnishing of poll bond details, the apex court had set a deadline of March 6 for SBI to submit the data, and ECI was asked to make it public by March 13.
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However, the bank had requested the Court for an extension till June 30.
This was challenged by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a New Delhi-based nonprofit organisation, following which the SC had struck down the electoral bonds scheme on February 15.