NEW DELHI: The SBI (State Bank of India) on Thursday filed a detailed compliance affidavit in the Supreme Court and said that it submitted all the details of electoral bonds with serial numbers to the ECI on Thursday.
"On March 21, we have provided/disclosed all the details of the electoral bonds which are in our possession and custody to the Election Commission of India," the SBI said, in a copy accessed by The New Indian Express.
It said that the prefix and the bond number is the alphanumeric number.
Keeping in view the security of the account holders (cyber security), the complete bank account numbers and KYC details of the political parties are not being made public, the SBI said in its affidavit filed before the apex court.
Similarly, KYC details of purchasers are also not being made public for security reasons, apart from the fact that such information is not fed/collated in the system.
However, they are not necessary for identifying the political parties, the SBI further told the apex court.
The apex court had on March 18 directed SBI to make a complete disclosure of all details of the electoral bonds which are in its possession and custody, in terms of the directions passed in the February 15 verdict.
The SBI said that it revealed information [alongwith that already disclosed] which will show, the name of the purchaser of the bond, the denomination and specific number of the bond.
It also said that the name of the party that has encashed the bond, and also last four digits of the bank account number of political parties had been disclosed.
The SBI has said that all the details had been disclosed and that no details [other than complete account numbers & KYC details] have been withheld from disclosure in terms of the directions as pronounced by the SC on February 15 and March 18.
On March 18, the SC made further directions in the electoral bonds case, and ordered the SBI to submit and disclose all the details of electoral bond data available with the bank including the Unique Alphanumeric Numbers.
The apex court had directed the SBI to provide all the details of electoral bond purchased, and also the political parties who received contributions through Electoral Bonds from April 12 2019 till February 15 2024, in the entire process.
Directing the SBI not to be selective in disclosing the electoral bond details, the five-judge Constitution Bench, of the apex court, led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, also asked the SBI to provide the details of electoral bonds purchased, political parties who received contributions through electoral bond etc from April 12 2019.
The top court also asked the ECI Chairman to file its detailed compliance affidavit by March 21, Thursday by 5 pm, to ensure no further complications, doubts or problems arise in the issue.
The Supreme Court in its landmark verdict had on February 15 said that the Amendments to Income Tax Act provision and the Sec 29C of the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act are declared to be ultra vires.
The CJI led bench had said that the Amendment to the Companies Act (allowing blanket corporate political funding) was unconstitutional.
The SC, in its verdict had directed the SBI to stop issuing electoral bonds immediately and also should disclose and submit all the details to the Election Commission by March 6.
The EC will make all donations public within one week of the receipt of the information.
All EBs within the 15-day validity period shall be returned by political parties to the purchasers, the SC had said, in its verdict.
"Lack of privacy of political affiliation would be catastrophic. It can be used to disenfranchise voters. Right to informational privacy extends to financial contributions to political parties," the bench of the SC had said.
The EB scheme was challenged by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Congress leader Jaya Thakur, and Spandan Biswal.
