SBI seeks delay till June for electoral bond data

5 Mar 2024 , 11:21 AM

On March 4, State Bank of India (SBI) filed a motion with the Supreme Court requesting an extension of time till June 30, 2024, for the disclosure of information on electoral bonds that political parties have redeemed, including the date of encashment and the bond amount. As of right now, March 6 is the deadline.

The request, which reports have access to, claims that SBI has acknowledged that the decoding process and the deadline it has been given have significant practical issues. The letter went on to say that ‘decoding’ the electoral bonds and matching contributors to donations would be a ‘complex process’ because of the strict steps they had taken to keep donor names anonymous.

In its argument, SBI informed the Supreme Court that information about electoral bond purchases made by branches is kept in two separate silos rather than centrally at one location. ‘There was no centrally maintained database. This action was taken to guarantee the protection of donors’ confidentiality.’

The SBI stated that the ‘retrieval of information from each silo and the procedure of matching the information of one silo to that of the other would be a time consuming exercise’ . Additionally, the bank has declared that donor information is stored in sealed covers that are placed in the Mumbai main branch. 

‘On the other hand, every political party was obliged to keep a designated account in any of the 29 authorized branches,’ the petition said. Only this account could be used to deposit and redeem the electoral bonds that party had received. When the bond is redeemed, the pay-in slip and original bond are sent to the SBI Mumbai Main Branch and kept in a sealed cover.’

It would therefore take a considerable amount of time to compile the two sets of information that are being stored independently of one another. The complaint said that ‘the retrieval of information from each silo and the procedure of matching information of one silo to that of the other would be a time-consuming exercise”.

SBI argued that the decision to not store all information digitally was made to make sure it would be difficult to obtain in order to fulfill the scheme’s goal. SBI reports that 22,217 electoral bonds were donated to different political parties between 2019 and February 2024. 

The argument stated, ‘At the conclusion of each phase, Authorized Branches deposited Redeemed Bonds in sealed envelopes at Mumbai Main Branch. When combined with the existence of two distinct information silos, this would imply that a total of 44,434 information was at stake.’

The bank has asked the SC to extend the deadline for finishing the exercise, citing the aforementioned.

In a historic ruling last month, the Supreme Court dealt the administration a serious blow by declaring that the electoral bonds program for political financing breaches both the right to information and the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution.

In the Union Budget 2017–18, the finance minister announced the issuance of electoral bonds as a means of financing donations to political parties.

Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud led a five-judge Constitution bench that ordered the SBI to reveal information about every electoral bond that political parties redeemed. By March 6, the poll panel should receive the information, which should include the date of encashment and the denomination of the bonds.

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