The State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday, informed the Supreme Court that it has provided all details of electoral bonds, including unique numbers, to the Election Commission.
The move comes after the apex court asked the bank to stop being “selective” and make “complete disclosure” of all details related to the electoral bonds scheme by March 21.
“On March 21, 2024, the SBI provided/disclosed all details of the electoral bonds which are in its possession and custody to the Election Commission of India,” an SBI affidavit read.
The SBI chairman said the complete bank account numbers and KYC details of the political parties have not been made public “as it may compromise the security of the account (cyber security)”.
“Similarly, KYC details of purchasers are also not being made public for security reasons, apart from the fact that such information is not fed/collated in the system. However, they are not necessary for identifying the political parties,” the affidavit filed by bank chairperson Dinesh Kumar Khara said.
The SBI said the information it provided will show the name of the purchaser of the bond, its denomination and specific number, the name of the party that encashed it, the last four digits of the bank account number of political parties that redeemed the bond and the denomination and the unique number of the bond encashed.
On February 15, a five-judge constitution bench had scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional”, and ordered disclosure by the EC of the donors, amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13.
