Saying that the State Bank of India (SBI) has not disclosed the numbers of the electoral bonds (EB), which it had to do, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered the bank to publish EB numbers which reveal the link between donors and political parties.
The EC released the details on 'Disclosure of Electoral Bonds Submitted by SBI' in two parts on Thursday -- one listing the buyers and the other listing the beneficiary parties -- on its website a day before the court-mandated deadline.
The Supreme Court said that the judgment of the Constitution bench clarified that all details of electoral bonds will be made available including date of purchase, name of purchaser, and the denomination, adding that the SBI has not disclosed the electoral bonds - unique alphanumeric numbers.
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The top court issued a notice to the SBI and sought a response by Monday, March 18.
The Supreme Court on Friday also allowed the request of Election Commission of India to return the electoral bonds data for being uploaded on the website.
The Supreme Court said Registrar Judicial of the apex court is to ensure that documents are scanned and digitised, adding that and once the exercise is complete, the original documents shall be given back to ECI and it will then upload it on the website on or before March 17.
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Electoral bonds, a scheme scrapped by the Supreme Court in a landmark verdict on February 15, allowed anonymous political funding. A five-judge Supreme Court bench, while scrapping electoral bonds had called the scheme "unconstitutional" and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients.
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The data of electoral bonds was disclosed by the Election Commission on Thursday, a day after the State Bank Of India (SBI) submitted the same to the poll body.
The SBI had sought more time from the Supreme Court to collate and furnish the electoral bonds details, however, its plea was rejected by the top court on Monday, March 11. Rejecting the plea, the Supreme Court gave SBI one day's time to submit the details.
