The Supreme Court verdict on electoral bonds has been no less than the proverbial Pandora's Box for the ruling BJP party. The verdict, given by CJI Chandrachud on February 15, was celebrated by the opposition members and doubted by the pessimists, many of whom had floated conspiracy theories and speculated a fire in the SBI building, breach of data, hacking of system or some such similar thing that would help keep the list of donors still shrouded in secrecy.
Confirming the worst fears of transparency activists, days after the court struck down the contentious fund-raising scheme that legalized anonymity of the donors, State Bank of India (SBI) has sought time from the Supreme Court till June 30 to furnish the details of electoral bonds. "The nation will get to know of secret Santas to political parties only after June 30 now," remarked a satirical post on X. "Do they need to compile data from handwritten notes that they are seeking this long?" commented another while highlighting the alacrity with which SBI has fulfilled government inquiries in the past.
Election Commission goes quiet
In the order the Election Commission was also asked to publish the data obtained from the bank on its official website by March 13, 2024. However, the Election Commission has been conspicuously quiet on the SBI missing the deadline mandated by the Supreme Court.
The Wire quoted a spokesperson for the Election Commission as saying, "that he had no information or comments to offer" on the same. The reason attributed by India's largest bank "that some of the data are stored in physical form kept in sealed covers," raised many eyebrows, given the fact that in the digital era most information is available at the click of a button. While the Election Commission staying silent on the matter gained traction on social media, at the same time several bank employees unions cleared their stance on the issue. "The matter is pending before the apex court and we believe that the Supreme Court will take appropriate decision in this regard," said a statement by the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) on SBI seeking more time.
A story published by the Reporters' Collective reports that when the Union Finance Ministry sought documents from SBI, it was able to collate data on electoral bonds from across the country within 48 hours after the deadline. It did so after every window period of sale.
Contempt petition against SBI
In an application filed on March 5, the State Bank of India (the only bank authorized to issue electoral bonds) sought time till June 30, which is more than three months to comply with the Supreme Court order of supplying the Election Commission of India with details of each electoral bond, the donor and the denomination of the bond. The SC in its order of February 15, 2024 had set the deadline of March 6 for SBI to do so.
After the SBI plea seeking time, a contempt petition was moved in the Supreme Court, filed jointly by petitioners Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Common Cause.
The petition says that SBI seeking more time negates the very spirit of transparency and promotes secrecy in election funding.
Taking a tough stance, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on March 7 said the Supreme Court would consider listing a contempt petition against SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khera for seeking time till June 30 to provide complete details of electoral bonds purchased by anonymous donors since April 2019 to fund political parties.
