On Tuesday, the State Bank of India (SBI) informed the Supreme Court that it has furnished details of the purchase and redemption of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in pursuance of the apex court’s directions.
The SBI has also said in its affidavit that 22,217 electoral bonds were issued between April 2019 and February 15, 2024, before the Supreme Court junked the scheme. Out of this, political parties redeemed 22,030 bonds. The remaining 187, the bank said, were redeemed and the money deposited in the Prime Minister’s national relief fund, according to rules.
The SBI has said in its compliance affidavit that it has submitted the data to the poll body in a pen drive. The data, it has said, is on two PDF files that are password-protected. The SBI, as per its compliance affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court, has provided the names of the buyers of the electoral bonds, with the date of purchase and denomination of the bond, and the names of the political parties who have redeemed the bonds, along with the date and denomination as well.
In its February 15 verdict, the top court held that the electoral bonds scheme was “unconstitutional” and “violates the right to information of citizens, about possible quid pro quo” between donors and political parties. SBI had been ordered to stop issuing the bonds immediately and submit the details of the donations to the EC, which would make them public.
The ECI is likely to set up a committee to peruse the PDF files on Thursday and will upload the data on its website in the same format it was shared by SBI.
 informed the Supreme Court that it has furnished details of the purchase and redemption of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in pursuance of the apex court’s directions.){kind=link}