The Supreme Court on Friday took strong exception to the State Bank of India (SBI) for failing to publish the numbers (unique alpha-numeric details) on all the electoral bonds received by political parties by March 16, after noting that its March 11 judgment clearly stated and asked it to do so.
The numbers reveal the links between donors and political parties, that is, which donor donated to which political party specifically. On March 12, the SBI had submitted data on the bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The top court took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Kapil Sibal and lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who appeared in the matter on behalf of the petitioner, that the alpha-numeric numbers of the electoral bonds have not been disclosed by the SBI. The miffed top court issued a notice to the bank today.
It then posted the matter for further hearing on March 18.
The Supreme Court also directed its registrar (judicial) to ensure the return of the original electoral bonds data submitted by the ECI in a sealed cover to the poll body once the data is scanned and digitised.
The return of the additional data (both the original and its digital version) to the ECI has to be done by 5 pm on Saturday (March 16) evening and it has to be uploaded on the website by Sunday evening, the top court directed today.
The ECI had moved the top court on Thursday seeking copies of the sealed cover documents (electoral bonds) submitted during the court proceedings so that the additional data could be uploaded on its website.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was on Friday morning hearing an application filed by the ECI seeking a modification of the operative portion of its March 11 order in the electoral bonds case.
In its application filed in the apex court, the poll panel had said that it did not keep any copy of the documents and added that those may be returned so that it can comply with the court's directions.
On March 14, the ECI put out the entire list of entities that have purchased electoral bonds for making political donations on its portal. The names include steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services, and Megha Engineering. But possibly the biggest donor, according to the list released is a little known lottery company called Future Gaming and Hotel Services.
While it is already known that the ruling BJP received the highest amount of donation of over Rs 6,000 crore followed by the Congress party, the data dump only disclosed the amount donated by each entity or individual. It does not say who donated to which party.
The SBI has told the Supreme Court that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased by political parties between April 1, 2019 and February 15 this year, out of which 22,030 were redeemed.
On March 11, the same five-judge bench directed the State Bank of India to disclose the electoral bonds data to the EC by March 12. It dismissed the bank’s plea for an extension of time until June 30 to disclose the data to the EC. It also directed the EC to upload the data on its website by March 15.
TIMELINE:
* 2017: The electoral bond scheme was introduced in the Finance Bill.
* Sep 14, 2017: NGO 'Association for Democratic Reforms', lead petitioner, moves SC challenging the scheme.
* Oct 03, 2017: SC issues notices to Centre and EC on PIL filed by the NGO.
* Jan 2, 2018: Central government notifies the electoral bond scheme.
* Nov 7, 2022: The electoral bond scheme was amended to increase the sale days from 70 to 85 in a year when any assembly election may be scheduled.
* Oct 16, 2023: SC bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud refers pleas against the scheme to a five-judge Constitution bench.
* Oct 31, 2023: Five-judge Constitution bench headed by CJI D Y Chandrachud commences hearing on pleas against the scheme.
* Nov 2, 2023: SC reserves verdict.
* Feb 15, 2024: SC delivers unanimous judgement annulling the scheme, saying it violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information.
* Mar 4: State Bank of India moves SC, seeking an extension of time till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties.
* Mar 7: Plea filed in SC seeking contempt action against SBI, alleging it "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit details of contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds by March 6.
* Mar 11: A five-judge Constitution bench of SC dismisses SBI's plea seeking extension of time and directs it to furnish the details of electoral bonds to the EC by close of business hours on March 12.
* Mar 12: SBI submits to the Election Commission the details of entities which had purchased the now-scrapped electoral bonds and political parties which received them.
* Mar 13: SBI says 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased and 22,030 redeemed by political parties between April 1, 2019 and February 15 this year.
* Mar 14: Election Commission puts out the entire list of entities that have purchased electoral bonds for making political donations.
(With inputs from Suchitra Kalyan Mohanty & PTI)
