Electoral bonds case: Names and donations have to be matched, need 3 more months, SBI tells SC

The State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday told the Supreme Court that it needed a little more time to comply with its order asking the state-run bank to reveal the identity of those who used electoral bonds to donate since April 12, 2019. Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the SBI, said the bank was trying to collate the information as it was having to reverse the entire process. "We as a bank were told that this is supposed to be a secret."

To this, CJI DY Chandrachud said it was submitted that the donor details were kept in a sealed cover in a designated branch and it was in Mumbai. "Political parties were to maintain an account in any of the state branches but electoral bonds could only be deposited to the Mumbai branch."

The CJI said all the remittances had come to the Mumbai branch already. "The FAQs indicated that for every purchase there has to be a separate KYC. So you have the details already," he added. 

Justice Sanjiv Khanna said: "You (SBI) have to just open the sealed cover, collate the details and give the information. ECI was asked to file details in a sealed envelope.

Salve then said that the bank has full details on who purchased the bond and it has full details from where the money came from and which political party tendered how much. "I have to also now put the names of purchasers. The names have to be collated, cross-checked with the bond numbers," he said.

The SBI counsel said that work is done from form to form and it will take three months more to share details. "I cannot make the mistake else I will be sued by donors etc." 

On February 15, the apex court struck down the electoral bond scheme as "unconstitutional". It directed the SBI to furnish details of all electoral bond purchases since April 12, 2019, to the EC by March 6. It further directed this information to be published on the EC website by March 13.

The EC was directed to collate the information by SBI and to make it public by March 13 on their official website. However, two days before the deadline, the state-run lender moved court seeking more time for furnishing the data.