SBI & ECI Under Scrutiny: Demand for Disclosure of Pre-April 2019 Electoral Bond Sales Totaling Rs 4K Crore: Plea in Supreme Court
(Judicial Quest News Network)
In a significant development with regard to Electoral Bonds an application has been moved before Apex Court seeking a direction to disclose the details of the electoral bonds which were sold between March 1, 2018 to April 11, 2019.
Earlier the Apex Court has directed the disclosure of the electoral bonds sold between the period of April 12, 2019, till February 15, 2024.
The application is moved by Citizens Rights Trust an association of Lawyers, Social Activists, Academicians, Journalists and students from legal fraternity and social fields working towards the cause of Human Rights, Senior citizens rights, Women empowerment and legal awareness.
The petitioners have requested a directive for the State Bank of India to disclose comprehensive information regarding the sale and redemption of bonds spanning from March 1, 2018, to April 11, 2019. This includes details such as the alphanumeric bond numbers, purchase dates, denominations, as well as the identities of donors and the political parties involved, to the Election Commission of India.
The petitioner cited a report from Scroll.in based on an RTI application, which revealed that the State Bank of India had issued 28,030 bonds amounting to Rs. 16,518 crores since March 2018. However, only details pertaining to 18,871 bonds, totalling 12,516 crores and issued between April 12, 2019, and February 15, 2024, have been uploaded by the Election Commission of India following their receipt from SBI.Thus information in respect of 9,159 bonds worth Rs. 4002 crores have not been disclosed, the applicant highlighted.
On April, 12, 2019 the supreme court had passed an interim order directing the ECI to submit before it in a sealed cover the details of the donations received by the political parties through electoral bonds. On February 15, while declaring the electoral bonds scheme to be unconstitutional, the Supreme Court directed the SBI to disclose the details of Bonds sold from April, 12, 2019.The ECI was also directed to upload on its website the details submitted to the Supreme Court in sealed cover.
The petitioners, which had earlier intervened in the Electoral Bonds case, argued that once the bond scheme has been found to be unconstitutional, voters are entitled to know the details of all purchases from the inception.
It is submitted that once the entire Electoral Bond Scheme is held to be violative of Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution, the citizens are entitled to know the details of the donor and done of the entire period from March 2018 onwards (the date when the scheme became functional).The data available on the platform of the Election Commission represents only 76% of the total bonds and the voters are not aware of the details of the remaining 24% of the electoral bonds. The application filed through Advocate-on-Record Sneha Kalita Stated.
The Constitution bench of the Apex Court headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud is scheduled to hear the electoral bonds case tomorrow to decide the issue whether the SBI should also disclose the unique numbers associated with the bonds.
