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18 March 2024, 12:42 GMT
Updated 16 minutes ago
The Supreme Court has directed the State Bank of India to submit the election bond numbers to the Election Commission by March 21.
After furnishing all the information to the Election Commission by March 21, the Supreme Court has directed the State Bank of India Chairman to file an affidavit in the court that he has submitted this information to the Commission.
The case was presided over by Chief Justice T.Y. Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, P.R. Kawai, JP. A bench comprising Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra came up for hearing earlier today (March 18).
Chief Justice T.Y. heard this case. Chandrachud said, “An order was issued on February 15, 2024, that political parties should provide complete information about money received from election bonds.”
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“All information must be provided”
“According to the order, SBI has been asked to provide information in two parts. From April 12, 2019, it has also been directed to provide information about electoral bonds, including the name of the person purchasing the bond, the amount purchased and other information,” he said.
“In the second part, we have asked for the details of how many election bonds the political parties received and how many bonds were cashed until the interim order came,” he said.
“If you read the order, it is clearly written that all the information regarding the electoral bonds purchased and their encashment should be provided. It is clear that SBI has not provided complete information,” he said.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said, “SBI should provide all the information it has. The numbers and serial numbers of the election papers should also be given. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said, “If such information is available with the SBI regarding the election bond, it should be disclosed.”
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A barrage of questions
Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for SBI, said that SBI has not concealed any information.
“As per the court order, we have provided all the information to the Election Commission before 5 pm last Thursday. No information has been withheld,” he said.
“You (the court) ask for specific information and we give it,” said Chief Justice T.Y. Chandrachud said.
“As head of SBI, you have to make public all the information you have,” he said.
The chief justice asked if the number on the bond was a security feature or part of an audit.
In response, Salve said the number on the bond was a security feature.
For this, “When going to the branch to cash the bond, is this number present to check if the bond is fake or not?” he asked.
“It’s like a banknote,” said Salve.
The court asked what information would be available based on these numbers.
Following this, the Chief Justice said that the SBI should provide the election card numbers and file an affidavit in the court that the Election Commission has been informed about it.
Dismissal of Assoc
Meanwhile, ASSOCHAM and FICCI had also petitioned that all the details including the special serial numbers in the election papers should not be published in the public space. But the Supreme Court rejected these petitions.
What information has been released so far?
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Information regarding election papers was released on Thursday evening.
According to the information, the BJP has encashed election bonds worth Rs 6,987 crore during this period. In this matter, Rs. The Trinamool Congress is in the second position, having cashed more than 1,600 crore in election bonds.
Future Gaming and Hotel Services bought the most electoral bonds. The company bought a total of 1,368 securities worth over Rs 1,360 crore.
However, it is not yet clear which company donated to which party.
Some parties have released the names of donors
The Election Commission of India uploaded the information received from political parties regarding election papers on its website on Sunday.
The Election Commission had submitted this information in a sealed envelope to the Supreme Court from the date of introduction of election bonds in 2018 till September 2023. Now the Election Commission has uploaded the information on its website.
While some parties have submitted complete information such as who gave them bonds, how much they were issued and when they cashed them, many parties have only disclosed how much money they received from which bonds.
Among the major political parties, AIADMK, DMK and the non-religious Janata Dal have provided information about who donated to them through election papers.
Smaller parties like the Sikkim Democratic Front and the Maharashtrawadi Komandak Party have revealed where they got their donations through election bonds.
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caption,
Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee
What is the reason given by BJP?
Whereas, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Jammu and Kashmir National Conference have provided details of donors till 2019 only. When these parties submitted updated information to the Election Commission in November 2023, they did not disclose information about donors.
Besides, most of the parties do not provide information about the donors.
The biggest beneficiaries of this scheme are the BJP, followed by the Trinamool Congress and the Congress. All three parties are silent on disclosing the names of the donors.
Last year, in a petition filed by the BJP with the Election Commission, “Election bonds were brought only to keep accounts of political funds and to ensure that donors do not face any problem. In such a situation, under the Act, the party need not know the names of the donors or keep its records. We do not have records of the names of the donors.”