The State Bank of India (SBI) has filed an application seeking an extension until June 30 to disclose the details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties before the scheme was abolished last month. The Supreme Court is set to hear this application on Monday, along with another plea requesting contempt action against the SBI for allegedly disobeying the apex court’s directive to submit these details to the Election Commission by March 6. The five-judge Constitution bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, will convene at 10:30 am to address both petitions.
In a significant ruling on February 15, a different five-judge bench declared the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional, citing concerns about anonymous political funding. The court ordered the Election Commission to disclose the donors’ identities, the donation amounts, and the recipients by March 13. Subsequently, the Supreme Court directed the SBI, as the authorized financial institution, to provide details of electoral bonds purchased from April 12, 2019, onwards to the Election Commission by March 6, for publication on its website by March 13.
However, on March 4, the SBI approached the apex court seeking an extension until June 30 to disclose the specifics of the electoral bonds encashed by political parties. This move comes in light of the ongoing legal proceedings surrounding the electoral bonds scheme and the timeline set by the Supreme Court for transparency in political funding.
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