The Supreme Court’s Constitution bench hearing the electoral bonds case on Monday has directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to reveal the unique alphanumeric code on the bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The bench, which was presided over by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, also asked the Chairman and Managing Director of SBI to file an affidavit on or before 5 pm on March 21, 2024, stating that the bank has disclosed all details of the bonds to ECI.
The court bench, which also included justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB PardiWali, and Manoj Misra, also referred to its earlier order on the matter and stated that the operative directions required the SBI to submit details of the electoral bonds purchased since the interim order dated April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission of India.
“Such details, the court has indicated ‘shall include the date of purchase of each electoral bond, the name of the purchaser of the bond and the denomination of the electoral bond purchased’,” stated the bench, referring to a previous order.
It added, “In the second part of the operative direction…SBI was required to submit ‘the details of political parties which have received contributions through electoral bonds’ since the interim order dated April 12, 2019, till date to the ECI,”
“SBI was required to disclose details of each electrical bond encashed by political parties, inclusive of the date of encashment and the denomination of the electoral bond,” the court said, adding, “the above narration and a plain reading of paragraph 219 of the judgment of February 15, 2024 (striking down the electoral bonds scheme) indicates that SBI was required to submit all details both in terms of the purchase and in terms of receipt of contributions.”
Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the RBI, stated that there’s no reservation on the part of the bank in revealing all the details that are in its possession and custody.
Recording his statement, the court stated: “In order to fully effectuate the order and to obviate any controversy in the future, we direct that the chairman and managing director of SBI shall file an affidavit on or before 5 pm on Thursday, indicating that SBI has disclosed all details of the electoral bonds which were in its possession and custody and that no details have been withheld from disclosure in terms of the directions contained in paragraph 221 of the judgment.”
