In February 2024, the Ministry of Finance ordered the State Bank of India to stop the printing of electoral bonds. This was 12 days after the Supreme Court declared the scheme unconstitutional.
Despite that, 8,350 bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination each were printed at a cost of Rs 3.72 lakh, as per responses to an RTI filed by retired Commodore Lokesh Batra. None of these bonds were sold.
It should also be noted that on November 2, 2023, the Supreme Court had reserved its judgement on petitions challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme.
Yet on January 12, 2024, the Ministry of Finance had given its approval to SBI to order Indian Security Press in Nashik to print 10,000 electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination each. Indian Security Press is engaged in the production and printing of various security products in India, including passports, visa-allied stickers, university degree certificates, and non-judicial stamp papers.
Six days before, SBI had sought permission from the ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs to print these electoral bonds because SBI “expected” that demand for electoral bonds would increase in view of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls taking place later that year.
Once the department granted its approval on January 12, SBI accordingly placed the order on the same day with Indian Security Press to print the electoral bonds.
About a month later, on February 15, 2024, the Supreme Court in a landmark judgement declared the electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional. It said the scheme violated voters’ right to information about political funding and directed that its sale be stopped with immediate effect.
Curiously, the finance ministry’s order to stop the printing of electoral bonds came only after SBI sent the Department of Economic Affairs an email reminding it to do so.
SBI wrote to the department on February 23, stating that it has received four boxes of security forms of electoral bonds containing 8,350 bonds from the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India. This was with respect to the order placed in January to print 10,000 electoral bonds. Indian Security Press, which is a subsidiary of SPMCIL, had printed these bonds on February 21, 2024.
On February 28, the department told SBI that given the Supreme Court judgement, it must immediately communicate with SPMCIL to halt the printing of the remaining 1,650 bonds.
Now, what isn’t clear is if and who paid the Rs 3.72 lakh, which is the cost incurred for the printing of 8,350 bonds.
SBI had responded to Batra on January 8, 2024 indicating that this cost would be borne by Indian Security Press. But in another RTI response on June 20, the Department of Economic Affairs said the government of India hadn’t yet received the final bill for printing these bonds.
Batra then filed RTIs last month seeking information from SBI and Indian Security Press on if the amount had been paid and, if so, by whom.
“What was the hurry of printing?” he said to Newslaundry. “The inventory in the SBI letter indicated that there were an adequate number of bonds available. The government’s confidence was so high that the Supreme Court’s judgement will be in its favour. It is important to note that printing cost is borne by the taxpayers’ money.”
Last year, The News Minute, Newslaundry, Scroll, and independent journalists banded together to investigate the political parties that encashed electoral bonds, and the corporates that bought them. Click here to read all our stories.
This report was originally published in the Newslaundry and can be accessed here.