Submit all the information in a day : SC orders SBI

Case of submission of all information under the ‘Electoral bonds scheme’ to the Election Commission

Supreme Court dismisses SBI’s plea for more time to disclose electoral bond transactions, sets deadline for Election Commission disclosure. (Credit – BT)

New Delhi – A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, dismissed the State Bank of India’s petition seeking more time to disclose details of all electoral bond transactions to the Election Commission. It said the information should be shared with the Election Commission on Tuesday, 12th March and the panel should make it public on its website by the evening of 15th March. Last month, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment in which it scrapped the electoral bond process, calling it ‘unconstitutional’. The Supreme Court asked the lender to submit by 6th March the details of the electoral bonds purchased from 12th April, 2019, to date to the Election Commission, which was asked to publish the information on its official website by 13th March. Earlier, the bank had submitted an application to extend the deadline till 30th June. However, the Court dismissed it and reprimanded the bank. In this regard, Chief Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud said that the information requested by the bank as per the details given in the extension application, seems to be ready. Therefore, the request seeking extension till 30th June is rejected. He also ordered the bank to submit all the information within 24 hours.

Rejecting the argument of senior advocates fighting on behalf of the SBI, the Supreme Court observed, ‘All you have to do is open the sealed envelope, take the information and give it to the Election Commission. This time, the bench told the bank that if these orders are not followed, action can be taken against you for contempt of the Court order’.

What was the order of the Supreme Court ?

On 15th February 2024, the Supreme Court struck down the Electoral bonds scheme for political parties. The Court, in its judgment, held that anonymous electoral bonds violate the right to information under Article 19 (1) (A) of the Constitution. Therefore, the Election Withholding Scheme is against the Constitution. It is wrong to change the law so that political parties can get unlimited funds.

What is ‘Electoral bonds scheme’ ?

This scheme was launched by the Union Government of BJP in 2018.

The Government has notified the scheme of ‘Electoral Bonds’ to cleanse the system of political funding in the country. The broad features of the scheme are given below:

1. Electoral Bond would be a bearer instrument in the nature of a Promissory Note and an interest free banking instrument. A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond.

2. Electoral bond would be issued/purchased for any value, in multiples of 1,000, 10,000, 1,00,000, 10,00,000 and 1,00,00,000 from the specified branches of the State Bank of India (SBI).

3. The purchaser would be allowed to buy electoral bond(s) only on due fulfilment of all the extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank account. It will not carry the name of payee. Electoral Bonds would have a life of only 15 days during which it can be used for making donation only to the political parties registered under section 29A of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or a Legislative Assembly.

4. The bonds under the Scheme shall be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in the months of January, April, July and October, as may be specified by the Union Government. An additional period of 30 days shall be specified by the Union Government in the year of the General election to the House of People.

5. The bond shall be encashed by an eligible political party only through a designated bank account with the authorised bank.