On March 11, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea by the State Bank of India (SBI) to extend the deadline for providing details of electoral bonds purchased anonymously and their encashment by political parties to June 30, 2024. A five-judge Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud gave the bank 24 hours, that is, by the close of business hours on March 12, to provide the details to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The petition was filed in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s verdict on February 15 striking down the electoral bonds scheme, where the Court had directed the SBI to furnish details of the bonds to the ECI by March 6, 2024. These details were to include the date of purchase of each bond, the name of the purchaser of the bond and the denomination of the bond purchased. The ECI was subsequently ordered to publish all such information shared by the SBI on its official website by March 13, 2024.
The court was also hearing a contempt plea filed by NGOs — Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Common Cause — against the SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khera that contended that the bank was deliberately trying to ensure that details of donors and the amounts contributed to political parties anonymously were not disclosed to the public before the Lok Sabha elections due in April-May. Analysis reveals that the BJP was the scheme’s greatest beneficiary.
