Court to SBI: Hand Over Bond Info Within 24 Hours!

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to hand over the information of individuals and entities who purchased electoral bonds to fund political parties by Tuesday, March 12. The apex court dismissed the plea of the SBI seeking more time to comply with its February 15 order, in which it had struck down the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional and ordered the disclosure of donor details to the Election Commission of India (EC).

The SBI had filed an application on March 4, requesting an extension of the deadline till June 30, citing the difficulty and time-consuming nature of the process due to the anonymity protocols surrounding the donors. The SBI had argued that it had to match the serial numbers of the bonds with the KYC details of the buyers, which required opening sealed covers and manually verifying the data.

However, the Supreme Court rejected this argument and expressed its displeasure over the delay by the SBI. A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the SBI had shown a lack of candour and wilful disobedience of its order. The bench said that the SBI just had to open the sealed covers, collate the details and give the information to the EC. The bench also said that it expected a degree of professionalism from the country’s largest bank.

The Supreme Court also directed the EC to publish the information shared by the SBI on its website by March 15. The court said that this was necessary to ensure transparency and accountability in political funding, which was a vital aspect of democracy.

The electoral bond scheme was introduced by the government in 2018 as a way to allow anonymous donations to political parties through SBI. The scheme was challenged by several petitioners, including NGOs and opposition parties, who alleged that it violated the right to information and enabled money laundering and corruption in politics.

The Supreme Court, in its February 15 judgment, held that the scheme violated Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression. The court said that citizens have a right to know the source of funding of political parties, which influences their policies and actions. The court also said that anonymity of donors undermines public trust in democracy and creates a risk of quid pro quo arrangements between donors and parties.

The court also noted that the scheme had resulted in a huge influx of unaccounted money into politics. According to data submitted by SBI, electoral bonds worth Rs 6,493 crore were sold between March 2018 and October 2020. Out of this, Rs 5,896 crore worth of bonds were encashed by political parties. The court observed that this amount was more than double the total income declared by all national parties in 2017-18.

The court also pointed out that there was a lack of level playing field among political parties, as most of the electoral bonds were purchased in favour of one party. According to an analysis by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-governmental organisation working on electoral reforms, 60.34% of the total value of electoral bonds encashed by political parties went to BJP, followed by 23.29% to Congress.

The court also expressed concern over the possibility of foreign influence in Indian politics through electoral bonds. The court said that there was no restriction on foreign entities buying electoral bonds through shell companies or intermediaries. The court said that this could compromise national security and sovereignty.

The court also criticised the role of RBI and EC in allowing and implementing the scheme. The court said that RBI had abdicated its responsibility as a regulator by giving its approval to the scheme without proper scrutiny. The court also said that EC had failed to perform its duty as a watchdog of democracy by not taking any steps to monitor or regulate the scheme.

The court concluded that electoral bonds were a threat to democracy and ordered their scrapping with immediate effect. The court also directed SBI to disclose all information related to electoral bonds since April 12, 2019, when it first issued an interim order on this matter.

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