India’s SBI urges Supreme Court for electoral bond data extension until June 30
State Bank of India (SBI)
The State Bank of India (SBI), a state-run lender, has formally requested the Supreme Court to extend the deadline for sharing Electoral Bond data from March 6 to June 30.
This comes in response to the Supreme Court's directive to SBI to disclose details of Electoral Bond donations and the names of political parties receiving contributions by the initial deadline.
The Supreme Court further instructed the Election Commission to publish this information on its website by March 13, 2024.
SBI, in its application before the Supreme Court, argues that the process of retrieving information from various sources and matching data across different silos is time-consuming.
The bank highlights the complexity of decoding Electoral Bonds while maintaining the donors' anonymity.
The data related to the issuance and redemption of the bonds is reportedly stored in separate silos, without a central database, to safeguard donor identities.
The sealed covers containing donor details are deposited at the Main Branch of the Applicant bank in Mumbai.
SBI highlights that unravelling this process requires additional time beyond the initial March 6 deadline.
The Supreme Court's decision on February 15 dealt a significant blow to the Electoral Bond scheme for political funding.
The ruling declared the scheme unconstitutional, citing violations of the Constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression, as well as the right to information.
This decision marked a pivotal moment in India's political and financial landscape, challenging the legality of the Electoral Bond system introduced by former finance minister Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget 2017-18.
Electoral Bonds, conceived as a financial instrument for political party donations, now find themselves under intense scrutiny.
The scheme allows citizens of India and domestic companies to contribute to political parties through bonds issued in varying denominations – Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 1 crore.
The anonymity of donors was a central tenet of the scheme, with donor details kept in sealed covers at designated branches.
(With inputs from agencies)