The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea of the State Bank of India (SBI) seeking an extension of time till June 30 to submit details of Electoral Bonds to the Election Commission of India and asked the bank to disclose the details by March 12.
The top court further ordered the ECI to gather the data that needs to be provided by the SBI and publish the information by 5 PM on March 15, 2024, on its official website.
Earlier on February 15, the court in its judgement had set the deadline for SBI as March 6 and had directed the ECI to publish the details of the Electoral bonds on its official website by March 13.
SC Strikes Down Electoral Bonds Scheme As Violation Of RTI And Article 19(1) (a)
On February 15, the Supreme Court's bench of Chief Justice Inda DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra delivered a unanimous verdict striking down the Electoral Bonds scheme as unconstitutional The bench ruling on a batch of pleas challenging the legal validity of the Central government's Electoral Bonds Scheme, which allows for anonymous funding to political parties.
What Did The SC Order?
The CJI while reading out his judgement said that the Supreme Court holds that anonymous electoral bonds are violative of Right to Information and Article 19(1)(a).
The Supreme Court said that information about corporate contributors through Electoral Bonds must be disclosed as the donations by companies are purely for quid pro quo purposes.
The Supreme Court said infringement of the Right to Information is not justified for the purpose of curbing black money.
It also directed the banks to forthwith stop issuing Electoral Bonds and that the State Bank of India (SBI) shall furnish the details of Electoral Bonds encashed by the political parties. The court said that SBI should submit the details to the Election Commission of India and ECI shall publish these details on the website.
What Details Did SC Ask SBI And EC To Make Public?
According to the Supreme Court's directions, the EC and SBI should reveal the details including the date of purchase of an electoral bond, the name of the purchaser and the denomination for each electoral bond in one list, and the details of every electoral bond encashed by political parties, including the date and denomination of the encashment, from April 12, 2019, onwards.
What Is Electoral Bonds?
An electoral bond is an instrument in the form of a promissory note or bearer bond which can be bought by any individual, company, firm or association of persons provided the person or body is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. The bonds are allotted for providing funds to the political parties.
A number of petitions were submitted to the Supreme Court challenging changes made to various legislation by the Finance Acts of 2016 and 2017, arguing that these changes had allowed political parties to receive unrestricted and unlimited funding.
(With inputs from ANI)