Supreme Court dismisses SBI plea to extend deadline to disclose electoral bonds, asks to furnish details by tomorrow

supreme court
File photo: Supreme Court

March 11, 2024

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by the State Bank of India (SBI)seeking an extension till June 30 to disclose details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties, and asked it to furnish the details by the close of business hours on March 12.

The apex court also directed the Election Commission (EC) to publish details provided by the SBI on its website no later than by March 15.

“Submissions of the SBI in its application indicates that the information sought is readily available. Thus, the application by SBI seeking extension of time until June 30 is dismissed,” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court asked the bank what it has done for the past 26 days. The SBI had approached the court for an extension, allowing it to disclose the details by June 30.

Earlier on February 15, a five-judge Constitution Bench scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it unconstitutional. The top court had asked SBI to furnish the details of the donors, the amount donated by them, and the recipients to the EC by March 6. The EC was told to then publish the information on its official website by March 13.

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