After the Supreme Court’s directive, the State Bank of India has submitted comprehensive details regarding electoral bonds, encompassing unique alphanumeric numbers, to the Election Commission. These bond numbers will unveil the connection between buyers and recipient parties.
Electoral Bonds case: The State Bank of India (SBI) has submitted complete details of electoral bonds, including the ‘unique alpha-numeric’ details of bonds, to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The unique bond numbers would reveal the link between the buyers and the recipient political parties.
On Thursday, the SBI told the apex court that it has revealed information such as the denomination and the specific number of electoral bonds. “No details other than complete account numbers and KYC withheld from disclosure in terms of SC order,” the lender informed the court.
This comes after the Supreme Court of India, in a third tongue-lashing to the SBI, said the bank should stop being “selective” and make “complete disclosure” of all details related to the electoral bonds scheme by March 21.
On Thursday, the SBI filed a compliance affidavit in the Supreme Court, saying it has furnished all details of electoral bonds to the ECI.
The SBI further informed that it has not furnished the KYC details of the political parties and purchasers as it could compromise the security of the party concerned.
The details furnished to the ECI by the bank on electoral bonds include the date of encashment, name of the political party, bond number, denominations, last four digits of account number, and payment branch code, the affidavit stated.
The details of electoral bonds purchasers submitted include URN number, journal date, date of purchase, date of expiry, name of purchaser, bond number, denominations, issue branch code, and status.
In a landmark verdict, a five-judge constitution bench had done away with the electoral bonds scheme, calling it “unconstitutional”, and ordered disclosure by the Election Commission of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13.
On March 11, the SBI, which unsuccessfully sought an extension of time till June 30 to disclose electoral bond details, faced searching questions from the top court which wanted to know about the steps taken to comply with its directions.
Last Friday, the SC admonished the SBI for furnishing incomplete information and issued a notice to the bank to explain the reasons for the non-disclosure of unique alphanumeric numbers.
In the previously published lists by the ECI, with information from the SBI, ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin’s Coimbatore-based Future Gaming and Hotel Services emerged as the top bond purchaser and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the largest recipient, followed by Trinamool Congress (TMC).