Published the Electoral Bonds Data Submitted by SBI

INTRO

• Data on electoral bonds that SBI supplied has been made available on the EC website.
• According to the data, electoral bonds were purchased for between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1 crore.
• A day prior to the deadline, Election Commission data was released.

In accordance with the Supreme Court's ruling, the Election Commission of India (ECI) posted the electoral bond data that the State Bank of India (SBI) released on its website on Thursday. Notably, the information was released one day ahead of the deadline set by the highest court.

By 5 p.m. on March 15, the poll panel was instructed to post the information, as obtained by SBI, on its official website.

Data from the election panel indicates that, as of April 12, 2019, electoral bonds had been bought in amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore. The data also shows purchases made by companies as well as by individuals.

The information also showed which political parties—including the BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, and others—received funding through electoral bonds.

In compliance with the Supreme Court's directive to provide the information, the SBI turned over to the electoral commission on Tuesday night the specifics of the organizations that had bought electoral bonds and the political parties that had been given them.

After receiving the information, the Election Commission of India wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) that "data on electoral bonds has been supplied by the State Bank of India to the Election Commission of India today, March 12, 2024, in compliance of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's directions to the SBI, contained in its order dated Feb 15 & in the case of WPC No. 880 of 2017, March 11, 2024."

Since the program's launch in 2018, the SBI has issued electoral bonds totaling Rs 16,518 crore in 30 installments.

But in a historic decision, the Supreme Court declared the Center's electoral bonds programme, which permitted anonymous political finance, to be "unconstitutional" and eliminated it. The highest court then mandated that the Election Commission reveal the identities of donors, as well as the sums they contributed and the recipients.

SBI has requested until June 30th to reveal the information. The Supreme Court, however, dismissed the plea and ordered the nation's biggest bank to provide all information to the Election Commission by the end of business on March 12.