Explained: The SBI And Electoral Bonds Scheme Case

On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected the State Bank of India’s (SBI) plea seeking an extension of the deadline to reveal details regarding the electoral bond scheme. Here’s a breakdown of the events that led to the ruling.

1. Under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the electoral bonds scheme in the Union Budget 2017-18. It allowed Indian citizens and firms to donate bonds of varying denominations to political parties.
2. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Congress leader Jaya Thakur, Common Cause, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) filed a petition challenging the electoral bond scheme, arguing that it affected the transparency of political funding and violated the rights of voters.
3. On February 15, the Supreme Court made a landmark judgement annulling the electoral bond scheme for political funding. The Court cited that anonymous funding via electoral bonds violated the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression and the right to information.
4. Led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, the five-judge constitution bench ordered the state-run bank to reveal donor information, other details of donations, and the names of political parties that have received the same since April 2019, setting a deadline for March 6.
5. The Court also ordered the Election Commission (EC) to publish the information it receives from the bank on its official website by March 13.
6. However, the bank claimed that retrieving information from different sources and matching the donors to their contributions would take a long time. SBI claimed that issuance and redemption data were stored separately at designated branches.
7. On March 4, SBI requested the top court for an extension until June 30 to furnish the details regarding electoral bonds.
8. Few days later, the ADR filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking an action of contempt against SBI. Several activists and opposition party members criticised the bank, accusing SBI of deliberately keeping the important data hidden until the Lok Sabha elections.
9. Notably, in the past, SBI has been able to provide electoral bond details to the government, sometimes within 48 hours, as per The Reporters Collective.
10. On March 11, the five-judge Constitution bench dismissed SBI’s plea for a deadline extension until June 30 and ordered the bank to furnish the details on March 12, directing the EC to publish the information on its website by March 15.