 "SBI wants time till June 30 to 'decode' and disclose electoral bond details")
The Supreme Court received a motion from State Bank of India Monday, requesting an extension until June 30 for the disclosure of information regarding each electoral bond that political parties have cashed.
State Bank of India (SBI) argued in an application before the top court that it would take a lot of time to retrieve information from “each silo” and match the information from one silo to the other.
The plea argued that “decoding” the electoral bonds and matching donors to the donations made would be a difficult process because of the strict measures put in place to guarantee that the donors’ identities remained anonymous.
“It submitted that the data related to the issuance of the bond and the data related to the redemption of the bond was kept recorded in two different silos. No central database was maintained. This was done to ensure that donors’ anonymity would be protected.
“It is submitted that donor details were kept in a sealed cover at the designated branches and all such sealed covers were deposited in the Main Branch of the Applicant bank, which is located in Mumbai,” the plea said.
In a landmark judgement that delivered a big blow to the government, the Supreme Court on February 15 annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding, saying it violates the Constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information.
In its verdict months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the apex court ordered SBI to disclose to the Election Commission the names of the contributors to the six-year-old scheme.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsA five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud directed that the SBI must disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties. The information should include the date of encashment and the denomination of the bonds and be submitted to the poll panel by March 6.
With inputs from PTI
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