In a landmark verdict on February 15, a five-judge constitution bench of the apex court had scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional".
The State Bank of India (SBI) is under fire for not submitting on time the details of contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 6. The SBI was directed by the Supreme Court to submit by March 6 the details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 till date to Election Commission (EC).
In a landmark verdict on February 15, a five-judge constitution bench of the apex court had scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordering disclosure by the Election Commission of the donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13.
The SBI on March 4 requested time till June 30 to give information about electoral bonds to the ECI. A five-judge Supreme Court bench will hear on SBI's plea seeking extension of time on March 11.
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court by two NGOs, seeking contempt action against the SBI alleging it "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit details of contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 6.
The plea, filed by two NGOs, claimed SBI's application seeking extension of time till June 30 to disclose the details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties has been deliberately filed at the last moment to ensure that details of donor and the amount of donations are not disclosed to the public before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Thursday took note of the submissions by advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared on behalf of NGOs Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause, that he wanted initiation of contempt proceedings against the SBI.
In the contempt plea, the NGOs have said that two days before the expiry of the stated deadline, the SBI has filed an application seeking time till June 30 to comply with the directions.
"It is submitted that the said application is mala fide and demonstrates a wilful and deliberate disobedience & defiance of the judgement passed by the constitution bench of this court. It is further a clear attempt to undermine the authority of this court," it said.
Congress leader Karti P Chidambaram on Thursday said SBI to-be made disclosure on electoral bonds will make it 'very apparent' that those who contributed to the BJP did it for 'ulterior' purposes.
Karti Chidambaram said it was imperative that the SBI immediately complies with the Supreme Court ruling on electoral bonds to ensure transparency and for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls to be fair.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh hit out at the government, saying, "Hide and seek in New India: Nation seeks, Modi hides!"
"The Pradhan Mantri Chanda Chipao Yojana, implemented by the SBI, is built on lies," he said on X.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday, in an attempt to corner the Union government over the time extension asked by the SBI, said banks promptly come out with all information of farmers when there is a default or delay in loan repayment but in the electoral bond issue lenders are asking for time to extract details.
"Banks stick notices on the doors of farmers when they are unable to repay loans. They have all information at hand of farmers who can't repay loans in time. But for electoral bonds they (banks) are asking for extension to submit details," news agency PTI quoted Uddhav Thackeray as saying.
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Slamming Union Minister Amit Shah's statement that the NDA government did in 10 years what the Congress could not in 40 years, Uddhav Thackeray sarcastically said "the BJP made Rs 7,000 crore in electoral bonds in 10 years while the Congress could garner just Rs 600-700 crore".
Former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said on Thursday that the details such as who bought electoral bonds, when and for how much, and which parties deposited EBs, with the date and amount, was available to State Bank of India, however, matching each EB with its recipient is an "impossible" task.
Garg, who was Economic Affairs Secretary when the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018, was being formulated by the department in 2017, said the SBI was trying to lead the the Supreme Court into a “wild goose chase” as it has not asked the bank to match the donors to the donations but as asked it for details of bonds bought, the date and the amount, an Indian Express report mentioned.
“Even if one takes into account they may not have entered the denomination separately, the information of who bought, on what date, how much of the electoral bond is available on the computer. Similarly, who deposited, for how much of the EB amount, and on which date, that’s also available on the computers as that was deposited in their accounts. That’s all the SC has asked for…,” the report quoted Garg as saying.
“The donor name is available for the amount of EB purchased, what is not available is for which particular bond, who bought it. Since all bonds have come back to SBI, even if you get access to a bond, you can’t determine who had purchased this bond and who had deposited it. So what SBI is saying is that ‘we will need this much time to make this connection’, they will never be able to do it. It is a cooked up excuse,” he said.