SBI Requests Supreme Court To Grant More Time For Sharing Electoral Bonds Data

Days after the Supreme Court directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to share information related to the sale, purchase, and encashment of electoral bonds, India's largest bank on Monday requested the apex court to grant some more time as compiling data needs more time. According to the reports, SBI has urged the court to extend the deadline till June 30.

Earlier, in a path-breaking order to strike down the electoral bonds scheme, the Supreme Court had asked the bank to share all relevant information with the Election Commission by March 6.

The SC had directed SBI to disclose the information of the donor and receiver of electoral bonds between April 12, 2019, to the judgment date, February 15, 2024.
A five-judge bench unanimously decided to strike down the Electoral Bonds Scheme without disclosing who is the donor and who is the receiver. The court said the scheme violates the right to information and the freedom of speech and expression and is illegal.

The court had also asked the political parties to return all electoral bonds purchased within the last 15 days from the date of judgment and shall be returned to the purchasers or its amount shall be refunded to them.

The court's decision came after the apex body took cognizance of yearly audit reports of political parties spanning from 2017-18 to 2022-23.

As per the data shared by SBI in the court, a total of Rs 12,000 crore were transferred to political parties. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received the highest amount obtaining Rs 6,566.11 crore in the last 5 years. However, Congress received Rs 1,123.3 crore, while Trinamool Congress (TMC) was at the third spot with Rs 1,092.98 crore donation.