Bank union criticizes SBI for seeking more time on electoral bonds
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Mumbai After the opposition parties, now a national bank union has objected to State Bank of India (SBI) seeking more time from the Supreme Court in the electoral bond case. Quashing the electoral bond scheme, the Supreme Court had directed the public sector bank to provide details of the people who made donations along with the political parties who received it. Bank Employees Federation of India General Secretary Hari Rao said in a strong statement on Wednesday that we oppose using banks for political purposes.
Rao said, “As a public sector bank, SBI should disclose all the details of the electoral bonds and produce the same to the Election Commission…as directed by the apex court, because delayed justice means Justice is not being served.” State Bank of India on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking time till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties. In its decision last month, the apex court had directed SBI to provide its details to the Election Commission of India by March 6.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had said that BJP’s position on the electoral bond scheme is not democratic. There is not equal opportunity for everyone in this. He had said, “The Narendra Modi government is using the country’s largest bank as a shield to hide its suspicious transactions through electoral bonds.” According to the Congress, after the electoral bond scheme was launched in 2017, Since then till the last financial year, all political parties together have received donations of more than Rs 12,000 crore. In this, BJP alone has received Rs 6,566.11 crore, which is 55 percent of the total electoral bonds. Whereas Congress has got nine percent of the total amount i.e. Rs 1,123.29 crore.
Federation leader Rao said SBI’s contention that some details are collected in physical form and kept in sealed covers has surprised many people, especially in the banking sector in the digital age. Because most of the information about this is available with a single click of the mouse. In a historic decision, the Supreme Court had on February 15 struck down the electoral bond scheme, giving a major blow to the government. The top court had said in its decision that it violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information. The apex court is yet to hear SBI’s petition.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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