Electoral Bonds: SC tells SBI to disclose details of link between donors and political parties

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the State Bank of India (SBI) on the question of disclosing the unique alphanumeric code on the electoral bonds that could be used to match each donation to the political party that received it.

The SBI had on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that it has furnished details of the purchase and redemption of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in pursuance of the top court’s directions.

Hearing an application by the ECI seeking a return of the data on the bonds which was deposited with the Supreme Court registry, a five-judge Constitution bench presided by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud noted on Friday that the SBI had not furnished the bond numbers.

“Who is appearing for the SBI? Because in our judgement, we had directed disclosure specifically of all details of the bond including the purchaser, the amount and the date of purchase. They have not disclosed the bond number…. that has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India. Because if you see our judgement, all details have to be furnished by the State Bank of India,” the CJI said during the hearing.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for petitioner NGO Association for Democratic Reforms said the SBI in its application seeking more time had said it has bond numbers et cetera and that the poll bonds data were in two different silos.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the court to issue notice to the SBI saying they were not party to the proceedings and may have something to say. He clarified that he was not appearing for the bank. “SBI is not a party. They were here because they had moved an application,” he said.

The CJI said, “They should be here when the matter is going on”. Expressing displeasure over the bond numbers not being disclosed, he added, “Really speaking…we can take exception to what they have disclosed because they were duty bound…”

The court then referred to its operative directions.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for one of the petitioners said, “This is an inclusive order… should include all details.”

The bench then proceeded to issue notice to SBI and said in its order, “The judgement of the Constitution bench required the SBI to furnish to the ECI, all details of the electrical bonds purchased and as the case may be redeemed by political parties, including the date of purchase, name of purchaser and the date of purchase/redemption. It has been submitted that SBI has not disclosed the unique alphanumeric number of the electoral bonds. Solicitor general submits that since he is not appearing for the SBI, notice may be issued to SBI. We direct the registry to issue notice to SBI, returnable on Monday.”

The court also allowed the ECI request and directed its registry to return the poll bonds data submitted to it to the poll body. “The Registrar Judicial of this court shall ensure that the data which has been filed by ECI in pursuance of the interim orders of the court is scanned and digitised. This may be completed by 5 PM tomorrow. Once this exercise is completed, the original shall be returned to ECI counsel Amit Sharma, who shall then upload it on the ECI website…,” the court directed.