ADR moves Supreme Court seeking contempt action against SBI in electoral bonds case

New Delhi, March 7

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an electoral reforms advocacy group, on Thursday moved the Supreme Court with a contempt petition against the SBI for seeking four months to disclose details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the ADR’s plea before a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud, which agreed to consider it after the petitioner completed the filing formalities.

Citing “certain practical difficulties”, the State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday had moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of time till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties.

Earlier, the top court had ordered the SBI to stop issuing Electoral Bonds immediately and submit all details by March 6 to the Election Commission which shall make all donations public by March 13. All Electoral Bonds within the 15-day validity period shall be returned by political parties to the purchasers, it had said.