State Bank of India Submits a Compliance Affidavit in Electoral Bonds Case

The State Bank of India on Wednesday submitted a compliance affidavit in the electoral bonds case, following its submission of all relevant details to the Election Commission as mandated by the Supreme Court. The electoral bonds data was securely transferred to the Election Commission via a pen drive containing two password-protected PDF files, with the passwords provided separately.

In the affidavit, he State Bank of India (SBI) disclosed that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were issued between April 2019 and February 15, 2024, before the scheme was invalidated by the Supreme Court. Among these, political parties redeemed 22,030 bonds, while the remaining 187 were redeemed, with the funds deposited in the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund as per regulations.

The affidavit provided a comprehensive overview of electoral bonds purchased and redeemed until February 15, 2024. According to SBI's data, 3,346 electoral bonds were purchased between April 1, 2019, and April 11 of the same year, with 1,609 bonds redeemed during that period. Additionally, from April 12, 2019, to February 15, 2024, a total of 18,871 electoral bonds were purchased, of which 20,421 were redeemed.

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on February 15 invalidated the Centre's electoral bonds scheme, calling it "unconstitutional." The Supreme Court had then directed the State Bank of India to reveal all details of donors, donation amounts, and recipients by March 13.

The Supreme Court on Monday had dismissed the SBI's request for more time to disclose the details of the Electoral Bonds to the Election Commission. It ordered SBI to provide the information by March 12 and mandated the poll panel to publish it on their website by 5 pm on Friday. A bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, pulled up the bank for its inaction over the past 26 days. “SBI is before us. There should be some candour on your part. What have you been doing for the past 26 days? There is no word about that in your application. For every purchase, there was a KYC. So you have the details,” said Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.The SBI on Tuesday submitted all relevant details to the Election Commission as mandated by the Supreme Court.