Electoral bonds: SC issues notice to SBI for not furnishing unique numbers, posts matter for March 18

The SBI has not disclosed the bond numbers. If you see our judgment we had specified that, says SC

A day after the Election Commission published the electoral bonds data on its website, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court on March 15 asked the State Bank of India (SBI)  why it did not furnish alpha numeric numbers on the bonds to the poll panel.

The matter is listed for hearing on March 18. During the course of the hearing Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud pointed out that SBI had not furnished the electoral bond numbers despite the order asking them to do so. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Union government, told the court that since SBI was not a party in the electoral bonds case, they are not represented in the court today. Mehta urged the court to issue notice to SBI before passing any order.

CJI remarked "Why are they not represented today? They should be present in hearing related to electoral bonds." The court nevertheless issued notice to SBI and asked the lawyers of the bank to be present in the court on March 18.

The apex court was hearing a plea on an application filed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the electoral bonds case to retrieve the documents it had submitted in November 2023.

During the hearing, the bench said that the registrar judicial of SC will ensure that the data submitted by EC will be scanned and returned to the poll panel by 5 PM tomorrow evening. The EC can then upload these documents on its website, the court noted.

The Election Commission had submitted all the data about the electoral bonds in a sealed cover after the apex court directed it to do so on the last date of the hearing in the case.

According to the plea, the EC submitted all documents on electoral bonds, without retaining any copies of it to comply with the order. "No copies of the documents/statements filed by the Election Commission of India before the court in the instant case were ever retained by it," said the plea from the poll panel.

On March 11, the Supreme Court directed it to maintain the documents containing the details of electoral bonds in the election commission's office. Thus, EC has sought the return of all the documents so that it can maintain these documents.

The EC on March 14, published the details of electoral bonds provided to it by the State Bank of India. The SBI had in compliance with SC's order supplied all the data on electoral bonds. 

Developments so far

The Supreme Court on March 11 junked a plea by the State Bank of India (SBI) seeking an extension of time till June 30 to disclose details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties. The court directed SBI to share all the details with EC by March 12 and asked EC to publish it by March 15.

The above transpired pursuant to the SC judgment from February 2024 striking down the electoral bonds as unconstitutional on the ground that the non-disclosure of information regarding the funding of political parties is violative of the right to information of citizens.