The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday uploaded the data related to the electoral bonds issued by the State Bank of India (SBI) to political parties. The data was published by the EC on its website a day before the Supreme Court's deadline ending on March 15. The data was received from the SBI on March 12.
Two lists were uploaded on the site. One has the names of donor companies as well as individuals and the other has names of recipient political parties. However, there is no way of knowing who donated to whom.
Among the big names on the donors list were Piramal Capital and Housing Finance, Sun Pharma, Vardhman Textiles, Muthoot Finance, Apollo Tyres, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, ABC India Ltd, Arihant Enterprises, Essel Mining, and Grasim Industries.
In a press note issued afterwards, the ECI said, "In compliance of Hon'ble Supreme Court's directions, contained in its order dated Feb 15 & March 11, 2024 (in the matter of WPC NO.880 of 2017), the State Bank of India (SBI) had provided the data pertaining to the electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 12, 2024.
"The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data on electoral bonds on its website as received from SBI on "as is where is basis".
"It may be recalled that in the said matter, ECI has consistently and categorically weighed in favour of disclosure and transparency, a position reflected in the proceedings of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and noted in the order also."
SC Scraps Electoral Bonds
The Supreme Court had on February 15 scrapped the electoral bonds scheme, calling it 'unconstitutional'. Electoral Bonds was introduced in 2018 by the Narendra Modi government, allowing anonymous political funding. Since its introduction, the SBI had issued electoral bonds to the tune of ₹16,518 crore in 30 tranches.
The top court ordered SBI to disclose the names of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients' names.
The SBI had sought time till June 30 for the disclosure of the details. The top court, however, rejected its plea, asking it to submit the data to the EC by March 12 and the EC was directed to publish the data on its website by March 15.
SC Hearing Tomorrow
A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is set to once again hear the electoral bonds matter on Friday. This was after the ECI sought certain clarifications pertaining to the March 11 order.
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