SBI Electoral Bonds: SBI moves Supreme Court in Electoral Bonds case, demands extension till June 30 to provide information | leader

Leader Online Desk : SBI Electoral Bonds : The Supreme Court had declared the Electoral Bond scheme 'unconstitutional' and directed political parties to share information about donations received from electoral bonds. For this, the court had given the bank till 6 March 2024. Now SBI has approached the Supreme Court in this regard and has requested to extend the deadline.

On what basis did SBI make the demand? (SBI Electoral Bonds)

State Bank of India has sought a deadline of June 30 from the Supreme Court to provide information on election bonds. The Supreme Court had recently struck down the scheme to block elections. The Modi government introduced the election bond scheme a few years ago to provide funds to political parties. That plan was declared unconstitutional and null and void by the Supreme Court last month. Also, the court had asked SBI to provide information about election bonds to the Election Commission.

In its application to the court, SBI said that 22217 election bonds were issued for donations to various parties from April 12, 2019 to February 15, 2024. At the end of each phase the cash was deposited in sealed envelopes by the authorized branches in Mumbai main branch. The bank has mentioned that the process of collecting information on election bonds is time-consuming. Curious what the court will decide on SBI's request. As the Lok Sabha elections are around the corner, the political circles will be paying close attention to that decision. (SBI Electoral Bonds)

A 5-judge bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud had asked the SBI to furnish the details of donations received since April 2019 to the Election Commission by March 6. The court had asked the Election Commission to upload this information on its website by March 13.