Electoral Bonds Row: SBI Sends All Data To Election Commission After SC Order

Following the Supreme Court's landmark order, the State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday evening reportedly sent all data about electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

As per the SC order, the data will be collated and released by the poll panel by 5 pm Friday.

ECI on Tuesday evening took it to X (formerly Twitter) and confirmed through a tweet that read, "In compliance of Hon’ble Supreme Court's directions to the SBI, contained in its order dated Feb 15 & March 11, 2024 (in the matter of WPC NO.880 of 2017), data on electoral bonds has been supplied by State Bank of India to Election Commission of India, today, March 12, 2024."

This development came a day after the apex court on Monday refuted a plea by the SBI seeking an extension of the March 6 deadline to release this data.

Coming down strongly, a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud accused the bank of "willful disobedience" of orders and warned it of contempt proceedings.

"While we are not inclined to exercise contempt jurisdiction at this time, we place SBI on notice that this court may be inclined to proceed against it for willful disobedience if it does not comply with directions by timelines indicated in this order," the court had said.

While the bank argued it would take considerable time to collect, cross-check and release the data, which was stored in two "silos" to maintain confidentiality of both sides, the apex court maintained that the donor details were available at the SBI's Mumbai branch, and the bank just had to "open covers, collate details and give information".

SC verdict on Eletoral Bonds

In a landmark verdict last month, the Supreme Court held the electoral bonds scheme to be "unconstitutional" and said it violated citizens' right to information.

The apex court also directed SBI to reveal each and every data associated with the scheme by March 6 and asked the poll panel to make this information public by March 13.