22,217 electoral bonds purchased in 5 years, 22,030 redeemed: SBI to Supreme Court

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, March 13

A total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased and 22,030 redeemed by political parties between April 1, 2019, and February 15 this year, the State Bank of India (SBI) told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Will disclose details on time, says CEC

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Wednesday announced sharing details of electoral bonds “on time” and asserted that the commission believed in complete transparency. The SBI has issued electoral bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018.

In its compliance affidavit, the SBI submitted that it had made available the details of electoral bonds, including date of purchase of each electoral bond, names of the purchaser and the denomination of the bonds purchased, to the Election Commission before the close of business hours on March 12, as directed by the apex court on March 11.

2 PDF files submitted

• SBI furnished a sealed envelope containing details of poll bonds in two PDF files
• One PDF had details of purchasers of the bonds and the other had names of parties that encashed these bonds
• Both PDF files are stored in a pen drive and are password protected
• The passwords for opening these files are also enclosed with the letter

Filed by SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, the affidavit said the bank had also furnished details such as date of encashment of electoral bonds, names of political parties which received the contributions and the denominations of the bonds to the poll panel.

The SBI said it had furnished a sealed envelope containing the details in two PDF files—one with details of the purchasers of the electoral bonds and the other containing names of political parties which have encashed these bonds with all the requisite details. “Both the PDF files are stored in a pen drive and are password-protected… an envelope containing the passwords for opening these files is also enclosed with this letter,” read the SBI’s letter to the CEC, which has been submitted along with the affidavit.

The amount of electoral bonds not encashed by political parties within the validity period of 15 days had been transferred to the PM Relief Fund, it stated.

A five-judge Constitution Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud had on February 15 declared unconstitutional the electoral bonds scheme that allowed individuals and companies to make unlimited anonymous donations to political parties on the ground that it violated Article 19(1)(a) that guaranteed right to freedom of speech and expression and included right to information within its ambit.

Citing “certain practical difficulties”, the SBI had on March 4 moved the top court seeking time till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond issued and encashed. However, the Constitution Bench had on March 11 ordered it to submit the details to the Election Commission by March 12. It had also directed the EC to put the information on its website by 5 pm on March 15.

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#State Bank of India SBI #Supreme Court