Electoral bonds: After Supreme Court rap, SBI submits all details to Election Commission

Complying with the orders of the Supreme Court, the State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday submitted the details of electoral bonds, including the ‘Unique alpha-numeric’ details, to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

New Delhi: The State Bank of India on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it has provided all details, including alphanumeric number of electoral bonds, to the Election Commission for uploading it on their website.

The information is likely to link the donors to the political parties under the scheme declared as unconstitutional for violating the right to information of the citizens and possible quid pro quo between the contributors and the parties.

In an affidavit, SBI's chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said the bank has disclosed all details of the electoral bonds which are in its possession and custody to the Election Commission.

However, it said, "The complete bank account numbers and KYC details of the political parties are not being made public as it may compromise the security of the account (cyber security). 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 bank, which was designed to issue electoral bonds as per 2018 scheme, stated, "SBI is now revealing information, which will show the name of the purchaser of the bond, the denomination and specific number of the bond, the name of the party that has encashed the bond, last four digits of the bank account number of political parties and the denomination and number of the bond encashed."

The affidavit further asserted the SBI has now disclosed all details and that no details (other than complete account numbers and KYC details) have been withheld from disclosure in terms of the directions contained in the Supreme Court's the judgment of February 15, 2024 and the order of March 18, 2024.

The Supreme Court on Monday categorically told the SBI that there is no manner of doubt that after its February 15, 2024 judgment declaring electoral bonds as unconstitutional, the issuing bank has to disclose all details, including alphanumeric numbers, to the Election Commission for publishing it on website.