The State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday, March 4, asked the Supreme Court for time till June 30 to furnish details on the electoral bonds scheme to the Election Commission of India.
According to a report published by LiveLaw, the bank filed an extension application against the court’s original deadline of March 6. The SBI stated that between April 12, 2019 and February 15, 2024, 22,217 electoral bonds were issued to make donations to political parties in India. The redeemed bonds were deposited to the main branch of the SBI in Mumbai by Authorised branches at the end of each phase.
The SBI argued that since two different information silos existed, they had to decode, compile and compare over 44 thousand (44,434) information sets.
The Supreme Court in its order on February 15, said electoral bonds violated voters’ fundamental right to information and ordered the SBI to stop issuing them. The five judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud in its judgement also ordered the SBI to furnish the details of electoral bonds purchased between April 12, 2019 (when the SC issued an interim order) and February 15.
The SBI was asked by the court to include the date the bonds were purchased on, the names of who purchased them and the bonds’ denominations. The court also ordered the bank to submit the details of bonds encashed by political parties in the concerned time frame.
As per the Supreme Court judgement, the Election Commission was ordered to publish the information given to it by the SBI on its website by March 13.