The State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday filed a compliance affidavit in the Supreme Court stating it had furnished all the details of electoral bonds, including their unique numbers, to the Election Commission as per the top court's order.
"On March 21, 2024, the State Bank of India has provided/ disclosed all details of the electoral bonds which are in its possession and custody to the Election Commission of India," State Bank chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara told the top court in the affidavit.
The recent batch of information will show the name of the purchaser of the bond, its denomination and specific number, the name of the party that encashed it, the last four digits of the bank account number of political parties that redeemed the bond and the denomination and unique number of the bond encashed.
However, the bank has refrained from disclosing complete bank account numbers and KYC details of both political parties and purchasers, citing the security of account holders.
"Similarly, KYC details of purchasers are also not being made public for security reasons, apart from the fact that such information is not fed/collated in the system. However, they are not necessary for identifying the political parties," it added.
"It is respectfully submitted that SBI has now disclosed all details and that no details (other than complete account numbers & KYC details) have been withheld from disclosure in terms of the directions contained inâ€æ the judgment dated February 15, 2024 read with order dated March 18, 2024 passed by this court," the affidavit concluded.
On March 18, the top court had rapped SBI for being 'selective' and not making a complete disclosure of details of the electoral bonds which are in its possession. The top court had said the details to be disclosed must include the unique bond numbers that would match the buyers with the recipient political parties.
Delivering a landmark verdict on February 15, the Supreme Court scrapped Center's contentious electoral bonds scheme, which permitted anonymous political financing, deeming it 'unconstitutional'.
Source: India Today