Electoral bonds Election Commission uploads electoral bonds' data from SBI on website
New Delhi/IBNS: In a big move towards showing transparency regarding political funding, the Election Commission of India has uploaded the data of the electoral bonds provided to it by the State Bank of India.
The details were uploaded on Thursday, a day before the deadline set by the Supreme Court.
The data relates to purchases of bonds of three denominations - Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 10 lakh, and Rs. 1 crore - dating back to April 12, 2019, and reveals purchases by companies as well as individuals.
The EC's website has two lists. The first is of companies that purchased electoral bonds, along with the denomination and dates.
The other has the names of the political parties as well as the denominations of the bonds and the dates on which they were encashed. There is, however, no way of correlating the lists and finding out which company had donated to which party.
Announcing the release of the data, the EC said in a statement, "The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data on electoral bonds on its website as received from SBI on 'as is where is basis'".
"It may be recalled that in the said matter, ECI has consistently and categorically weighed in favour of disclosure and transparency, a position reflected in the proceedings of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and noted in the order also," it said.
The Chairman of SBI filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court on Wednesday informing that the Bank has complied with the apex court order fully and furnished the details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The details have been provided in two separate information packets - the first containing details of the purchasers of the electoral bonds, and the second containing names of the political parties who have encashed these bonds with all the requisite details, SBI Chairman said.
The affidavit, filed by SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, states: “The State Bank of India has furnished the records to the ECI with details of purchase, denomination, and name of the buyer and the date of encashment and the denominations of the bonds encashed are given."
SBI’s move came in the wake of the Supreme Court's stringent directions to upload the details of the Electoral Bonds purchased and redeemed by parties.
Earlier the apex court scrapped the Electoral Bonds scheme on February 15. The top court had declared the issuance of electoral bonds as unlawful and directed the SBI to stop the issuance of the Electoral bonds forthwith.
The Supreme Court had directed the SBI to disclose details of the political parties that received contributions through electoral bonds. These details were to be published by the Election Commission on its website by March 13, 2024.
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