SBI affidavit – uttamhindu.com

As per the order of the Supreme Court, SBI has given the details of bonds taken by political parties to the Election Commission. State Bank of India, through its Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday that 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased and 22,030 electoral bonds were encashed by political parties between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2024. SBI has mentioned this in its affidavit. It is noteworthy that on Monday (March 11), the Supreme Court had ordered SBI to share the details of electoral bonds with the Election Commission, a day after which the bank shared these details with the Election Commission. However, the statement does not mention the unique code of each electoral bond that can be used to match each donation the party has received with the data. Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for SBI, had raised this point on Monday when he told the court that the bank was facing a challenge in matching the details of those who made donations and those who encashed it. Different information sources were collected.

He had told the court on Monday, ‘We need some more time to comply with your order.’ Responding to this, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that as per the court’s directions the bank is not required to ‘match’ but only has to share the information. The Chief Justice said that the bank had all the necessary details as evidence of KYC records. The Election Commission will publish the details on its website by 5 pm on March 15. On Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that the Election Commission has received data related to electoral bonds from SBI and it will be made public in time. In its affidavit, SBI said the bank had ready records in which the date of purchase, denomination and name of the purchaser were recorded, and (in respect of political parties) the date of money taken and the denomination of the bonds redeemed. Were. The statement said the data has been handed over to the Election Commission in a pen drive along with two PDF documents which contain the password. An envelope with a password was delivered on Tuesday along with a letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar. The letter said, ‘The bonds which were not encashed by the political party within the valid period of fifteen days have been transferred to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.’ The SBI Chairman told the court that the bank has handed over these records to the Election Commission of India in digital form (password protected). The bank said the data pertains to bonds purchased and redeemed between April 12, 2019, and February 15, 2024. The total number of bonds purchased between April 1 to April 11, 2019 is 3,346 and the total number of bonds redeemed during this period is 1609. Whereas between April 12, 2019 and February 15, 2024, the total number of bonds purchased is 18,871 and the total number of bonds redeemed is 20,421. On February 15, the Supreme Court had struck down the electoral bond scheme, calling it ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘arbitrary’.

Electoral bonds were introduced to curb the increasing black money in politics, but with the passage of time, the weaknesses of this scheme became apparent, then the opposition parties raised this issue and the matter reached the court. In view of the weaknesses of the Electoral Bond Scheme and how illegal transactions had started by big companies through these bonds, the Court had ordered the immediate closure of the Electoral Bond Scheme and also the sale of bonds. SBI was ordered to give the details of donations received by which political party to the Election Commission.

SBI had asked for time till June 30, 2024 to give the details but the Supreme Court refused and asked to give the details immediately, today the details are in front of everyone. The above decision of the court is in the interest of democracy.