North India Statesman
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SBI has received a big blow from the Supreme Court. SBI had sought time to share information related to electoral bonds, which has been rejected by the Supreme Court. Now SBI has to provide the details by Tuesday. In such a situation, do we understand whether this will increase the tension among political parties? State Bank of India (SBI) has received a setback from the Supreme Court. SBI's demand to extend the deadline for sharing information related to electoral bonds till June 30 has been rejected. The Supreme Court has asked SBI to share all the information by Tuesday i.e. March 12.
Election Commission has asked to upload all the information on the website by 5 pm on March 15.
The Supreme Court, in its judgment on February 15, termed the electoral bond scheme as 'unconstitutional'. SBI was also asked to submit all the details to the Election Commission by March 6. On this, SBI asked for time till June 30. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra is hearing the case. A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court rejected SBI's demand and ordered the Election Commission to provide all the information by March 12. Also, the Election Commission has been asked to upload all this information on the website by 5 pm on March 15.
What is meant by electoral bond?
In the year 2017, the Central Government had announced the Electoral Bond Scheme. It was legally implemented on 29 January 2018. The government said the scheme was launched to bring in 'clean' money and increase 'transparency' in election donations. Electoral bonds of different amounts are issued by 29 branches of SBI. This amount can range from one thousand to one crore rupees. Anyone can buy it and donate it to the political party of their choice.
What was the process of purchasing it?
Electoral bonds were issued four times a year – in January, April, July and October. Donations through electoral bonds can be given only to those parties which have secured at least one percent of the votes in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
Bonds are issued four times in a year for 10 days each.
These bonds are issued four times a year for 10 days each. Any individual or corporate house can buy these bonds. After receiving the bond the political party had to deposit it in its account within 15 days. According to law, political parties were not obliged to disclose where they got the bonds. Also, SBI was not required to disclose who it had purchased and how many bonds.
Where are all these details kept?
Details of who bought the bonds and to whom they were issued are kept in one place, but separately. SBI told the Supreme Court that the details of the donor and the recipient are kept in separate sealed covers at the main branch in Mumbai.
So why was SBI taking time?
In such a situation, the question arises that when the details of donor and recipient are in the same branch, then why was SBI asking for more time to submit it? SBI had told the Supreme Court that more time was needed to match the details of the two. SBI had told the Supreme Court that the electoral bond information was in two different sealed envelopes and matching them and disclosing the details was a lengthy process.
44,434 data sets in two separate sealed envelopes
In its decision on 15 February, the Supreme Court had asked SBI to disclose information related to electoral bonds between 12 April 2019 and 15 February 2024. SBI said 22,217 bonds were purchased during the period. That means there are 44,434 data sets in two different sealed envelopes. SBI also argued that as per the prescribed procedure, no details of bond buyers, including KYC and other details, will be maintained in the core banking system. SBI said that none of the details are in digital format.
Why did SC ask to make the information public?
In 2019, the validity of the electoral bond scheme was challenged in the Supreme Court. On February 15, the Supreme Court declared this scheme unconstitutional. The court also held that keeping electoral bonds confidential is a violation of Article 19(1) of the Constitution and the Right to Information. The Supreme Court on Monday said that Section 7 of the electoral bond scheme states that information about bond buyers will be kept confidential but can be disclosed if sought by courts or legal agencies. Therefore, as per the provisions of the Electoral Bond Scheme, SBI is required to disclose its information on court orders.
What details will SBI provide?
By March 12, SBI will have to submit two different data sets-
- First: On what date were the electoral bonds purchased? Who bought it? And what was the cost?
- Second: How much donations did political parties receive from electoral bonds? On which date were the electoral bonds encashed? And how many bonds were redeemed?
Why aren't these parties a hit?
However, SBI will have to provide all the information about the person who purchased the bond, the price of the bond, the date of purchase of the bond and which party received donations from the electoral bond. But there is no need to mention in the electoral bond who donated to which political party. This is an exception in a way, because SBI is the only institution which can tell who has donated how much to which political party. Only then will it be known whether any donor has benefited directly or indirectly from the government policy.
What will happen next now?
The Supreme Court on Monday asked SBI to submit all the information related to electoral bonds by March 12. The court also said that if the information is not given within the stipulated time limit, it will amount to deliberate contempt of court and action can be taken against SBI. Now by March 12, SBI will hand over all the information related to electoral bonds to the Election Commission. After this, the Election Commission will have to make all the information available on its website by 5 pm on March 15.
How much do parties earn from electoral bonds?
The Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) was also among those challenging the validity of the electoral bonds. ADR claims that between March 2018 and January 2024, political parties received donations of more than Rs 16,492 crore through electoral bonds. According to the audit report of 2022-23 filed with the Election Commission, BJP has received donations of more than Rs 1,294 crore through electoral bonds. Whereas its total earning was Rs 2,360 crore. That means 40 percent of BJP's total income has come from electoral bonds.
BJP received donations of Rs 5,271 crore through electoral bonds.
According to the ADR report, between 2017-18 and 2021-22, BJP received donations worth Rs 5,271 crore through electoral bonds. It received the highest donation in 2019-20. It was an election year and BJP received donations of Rs 2,555 crore from electoral bonds.
