State Bank of India Submits Compliance Affidavit in Electoral Bonds Case Before Supreme Court

State Bank of India Submits Compliance Affidavit in Electoral Bonds Case Before Supreme Court

The State Bank of India submitted a compliance affidavit in the electoral bond issue on Wednesday, following the Supreme Court’s directive to send all electoral bond details to the Election Commission. The public lender has disclosed information about electoral bonds purchased and redeemed through February 15, 2024, in the affidavit. 3,346 electoral bonds were bought between April 1 and April 11 of the same year, per the statistics supplied by SBI. The data indicated that 1,609 bonds were redeemed in total.

The statistics from the SBI also revealed that, between April 12, 2019, and February 15, 18,871 electoral bonds were purchased and 20,421 bonds were redeemed. Two PDF files that required a password to access were included in the pen drive containing the electoral bond data. An envelope with passwords was handed out separately. The Election Commission received details of the SBI’s electoral bonds the day after the Supreme Court denied its request for an extension until June 30.

“What actions have you taken in the past 26 days? A five-judge panel of the top court, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, had questioned the SBI, saying, “Your application is silent on that.” The bench had further stated, “The SBI just needs to open the sealed cover, gather details, and give information to the Election Commission.”

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The directive to SBI was sent one month after electoral bonds were declared “unconstitutional” and “violative of the right to information under Article 19(1)(a)” by the Supreme Court in a historic decision. The Center announced the electoral bonds program on January 2, 2018. In an attempt to increase political financial transparency, it was positioned as a substitute for cash contributions given to political parties. In March 2018, the first electoral bond sale was held. An eligible political party could only cash electoral bonds via an account with an authorized bank.