Election Commission, SBI, & Supreme Court: Updates on electoral bonds’ information provision, orders, and legal rulings
According to PTI on Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar stated that the Election Commission will provide all information regarding electoral bonds on time. The president of the poll commission made his remarks one day after the State Bank of India on Tuesday provided the EC with all the electoral bond details.
As per the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order, the State Bank of India provided the Election Commission of India with data on electoral bonds on March 12, 2024, contained in its orders dated Feb 15 & March 11, 2024 (in the matter of WPC No. 880 of 2017),” the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.
The poll panel was ordered by the Supreme Court to post information about electoral bonds on its website by March 15 at 5 p.m. In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, the SBI provides information on electoral bonds that were bought and redeemed between April 12, 2019, and February 15, 2019. The day after a five-judge tribunal denied the SBI’s request for an extension of the deadline, the SBI provided the ECI with details of its electoral bonds.
“All the SBI needs to do is crack open the sealed cover, gather the information, and send it to the EC,” the bench led by India’s Chief Justice, DY Chandrachud, stated. Throughout the last 26 days, what actions have you taken? You don’t answer that in your application,” the bench had asked SBI. In their decision on February 15, the Supreme Court had given SBI till March 6 to respond. The Supreme Court has ordered the ECI to provide information about Electoral Bonds on its official website by March 13.
In its decision from February, the Supreme Court declared that the Electoral Bonds Scheme, which permitted political parties to receive funds anonymously, was invalid and directed the State Bank of India to immediately cease issuing Electoral Bonds.