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Last month, the Supreme Court had termed the electoral bond scheme as ‘unconstitutional’ and directed political parties to share information about donations received through electoral bonds. For this, the court had given time till March 6, 2024 to the bank. But SBI has approached the Supreme Court and requested that they be given time till June 30 for this.
The court had directed the Election Commission to provide information about electoral bonds purchased from April 12, 2019 till now. But now SBI has said that it wants to completely comply with the court’s instructions. However, there are some practical difficulties with decoding the data and the time frame required for it. Strict measures have been followed to conceal the identity of those purchasing electoral bonds. Now matching the information about its donors and the amount of electoral bonds they have purchased is a complex process.
In such a situation, legal experts have expressed their displeasure over the delay being done by SBI in handing over the information about electoral bonds to the Election Commission. Expressing disappointment over the delay in providing information related to electoral bonds, legal expert Anjali Bhardwaj said that the information about donors who donate to political parties through electoral bonds and the information about donors who donate through electoral bonds is available in the Mumbai branch of SBI. But the bank has not yet made this information public. Bhardwaj also criticized the bank’s claim that it would take four months to match the details of buyer and redeemer of bonds amounting to more than Rs 22,000. Anjali has called this claim of the bank ridiculous.
‘Deliberate delay in providing details of electoral bonds’
Congress leader and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi also criticized the delay in submitting the information about electoral bonds to the Election Commission. Singhvi accused the government and SBI of deliberately trying to hide this information. Singhvi says that after the Supreme Court’s decision on electoral bonds, this matter is being deliberately delayed. He stressed the importance of making information related to electoral bonds public before the Lok Sabha elections.
Former Union Minister and lawyer Manish Tiwari asked the Supreme Court to intervene in this matter and stop SBI’s procrastination in this matter. Emphasizing on transparency, Tiwari said that voters should know which parties have received donations.
Senior lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan accused the Modi government of not wanting to use SBI to reveal the information of electoral bond donors till the Lok Sabha elections. He said that if such information is released before the Lok Sabha elections, then many bribe givers will be exposed as to how they are paying bribes to get government contracts.
What is the order of the Supreme Court?
Last February, the Supreme Court had canceled the electoral bond scheme, saying that it violates the right to information, freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution. The bench of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had given a unanimous verdict on the petitions challenging the legal validity of the electoral bond scheme.
In its decision, the court directed State Bank of India to share the data of all the electoral bonds purchased with the Election Commission. Also the date of purchase of the bond, name of the person purchasing the bond and its value. Apart from this, which political party has encashed that bond. All these data banks will have to share with the Election Commission the details of all the bonds purchased since April 12, 2019.
Let us tell you that the electoral bond scheme was under question since its inception. Now that the Supreme Court has declared it unconstitutional, there is talk that the government is now looking for an alternative to it.
Electoral bond scheme came in 2018
The Electoral Bond Scheme was introduced in 2018. However, in 2019 itself, its validity was challenged in the Supreme Court. Three petitioners had filed a petition against this scheme. At the same time, the central government had defended it and said that political parties are getting only legitimate money from it. Also, the government had argued on confidentiality that the purpose of hiding the identity of the donor is to protect them from retaliation by political parties.
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