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New Delhi,

State Bank of India has refused to provide information about its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued for the sale and redemption of electoral bonds issued from its branch. In response to an RTI, SBI has refused to provide this information citing exemption given under commercial confidentiality.

Actually, RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj had asked for the details of the SOP issued to the authorized branch of SBI regarding the sale and redemption of electoral bonds. In response to this, Central Public Information Officer and Deputy General Manager of SBI, M. Kanna Babu, in his reply said that the SOP of Electoral Bond Scheme-2018 issued from time to time to the authorized branches are internal guidelines, which are governed by Section 8(1) (d) of RTI. Exemption has been given under.

According to PTI, the RTI activist said that it is surprising to know that even after the Supreme Court declared the Electoral Bond Scheme unconstitutional and clearly directed to ensure disclosure of all information about the bonds purchased and encashed. SBI is refusing to provide important information regarding the operation of electoral bonds.

On January 28, 2017, the then Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley had announced the Electoral Bond Scheme in the country. It was legally implemented on 29 January 2018. The government said that this scheme has been brought to bring 'clean' money in election donations and to increase 'transparency'.

Electoral bonds of different amounts are issued from 29 branches of SBI. This amount can range from one thousand to one crore rupees. Anyone can buy it and give it to the political party of their choice. Bonds were issued for amounts ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 1 crore. However, the Supreme Court, while giving its verdict on February 15 this year, canceled the Electoral Bond Scheme, terming it 'unconstitutional'.