New Delhi, India

The Supreme Court of India on Monday (Mar 11) rejected the State Bank of India's (SBI) plea seeking an extension until June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties before the scheme was scrapped last month. Instead, it directed the bank "to disclose the details by the close of business hours of 12 March 2024 (Tuesday)".

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Furthermore, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been directed to "compile the information and publish the details on its official website no later than by 15 March 2024 by 5 PM."

Contempt charges

A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna, B. R. Gavai, J. B. Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra also heard a plea requesting the initiation of contempt action against the SBI. The plea alleged that SBI "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit details of contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 6.

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The court has asked SBI to "file an affidavit of its Chairman and Managing Director on compliance with the directions issued above." It warned the bank that it may move ahead with contempt charges if its instructions are flouted.

"While we are not inclined to exercise the contempt jurisdiction at this time, we place SBI on notice that this Court may be inclined to proceed against it for wilful disobedience if SBI does not comply with the directions by the timelines indicated in this order," the court observed.

The scrapping of electoral bonds

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In a significant ruling on February 15, a five-judge Constitution Bench invalidated the central government's electoral bonds scheme, which permitted anonymous political funding, deeming it "unconstitutional." The court also mandated disclosure by the Election Commission of the donors, their donation amounts, and the recipients by March 13.

Subsequently, the top court directed the SBI, the designated financial institution under the scheme, to furnish details of electoral bonds purchased from April 12, 2019, to date to the Election Commission by March 6. The Commission was instructed to publish this information on its official website by March 13.

However, as per news agency PTI, on March 4, the SBI petitioned the apex court for an extension until June 30 to disclose the details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties. The bank argued that retrieving information from "each silo" and "decoding" electoral bonds and matching donors to donations due to stringent anonymity measures would be a time-consuming exercise.

The data on bond issuance and redemption were maintained separately to safeguard donor anonymity, it said.

(With inputs from agencies)