Supreme Court directs SBI to disclose electoral bond numbers
New Delhi/IBNS: The Supreme Court on Friday rapped the State Bank of India (SBI) for not disclosing electoral bond numbers and directed the national bank to do it, media reports said.
The top court, which was hearing a plea by the Election Commission of India (ECI), said data provided by the SBI was "incomplete".
Headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, a five-judge bench asked the SBI to release the bond numbers in addition to the details it has already provided following the direction of the Supreme Court.
"Who is appearing for the State Bank of India? They have not disclosed the bond numbers. It has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India," CJI Chandrachud said as quoted by NDTV.
In a landmark ruling last month, the Supreme Court declared the electoral bond scheme, which allowed individuals and businesses to donate funds to political parties anonymously, "unconstitutional", stating that it violated citizens' right to information.
The SBI on Tuesday provided the Electoral Bonds data to the ECI, as per the strict directive from the Supreme Court issued on Monday.
In a big move towards showing transparency regarding political funding, the ECI uploaded the data of the electoral bonds provided to it by the SBI on Thursday, a day before the deadline set by the Supreme Court.
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