Electoral Bonds case: SBI files compliance affidavit in SC

NEW DELHI — In a compliance affidavit filed on Wednesday, the State Bank of India (SBI) told the Supreme Court that it has furnished data on Electoral Bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in digital form.

The affidavit sworn by SBI Chairman stated that a sealed envelope was handed over to the poll body before the close of business hours on Tuesday containing two PDF files, one with details of the purchasers of the Electoral Bonds and the other file containing names of the political parties who have encashed these Bonds with all the requisite details as required by the Constitution Bench judgment.

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“The aforesaid data has been furnished in respect of bonds purchased and redeemed between April 1, 2019 and February 15, 2024,” the affidavit added.

Further, it said that a total number of 22,217 bonds were purchased and 22,030 bonds were redeemed by political parties during the period between April 1, 2019 and February 15, 2024.

Referring to a 2018 gazette notification, SBI said that the amount of the Electoral Bonds which were not encashed by the political party within the validity period of 15 days have been transferred to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed SBI’s application to extend the March 6 deadline for submitting the data to the ECI.

A Constitution Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud on February 15 struck down the Electoral Bonds Scheme, 2018 as unconstitutional and ordered the SBI to forthwith stop their issuance.

It also asked the SBI to submit details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 2019 to the ECI by March 6 for publication on the official website of the poll body.

“SBI must disclose details of each Electoral Bond encashed by political parties which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of the Electoral Bond. SBI shall submit the above information to the ECI within three weeks from the date of this judgment, that is, by March 6, 2024,” the SC had said in its February 15 order.

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