During Monday's hearing, the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court overseeing the electoral bonds issue directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to reveal the unique alphanumeric code on the bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, leading the bench, also instructed the Chairman and Managing Director of SBI to submit an affidavit by 5 pm on March 21, affirming that the bank has provided all bond details to the ECI.
The Supreme Court urged the State Bank of India (SBI) to be "transparent and impartial" and avoid cherry-picking as it instructed the bank to provide a "comprehensive disclosure" of electoral bonds' information, encompassing their hidden unique alphanumeric and serial numbers, to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for publication.
The bench, which also includes Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, cited its earlier rulings on the issue, stating that the operative directives mandated the State Bank of India (SBI) to furnish details of electoral bonds purchased from the interim order dated April 12, 2019, to the present, to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Quoting a previous order, the bench specified, "Such details, the court has indicated 'shall include the date of purchase of each electoral bond, the name of the purchaser of the bond, and the denomination of the electoral bond purchased'."
The bench elaborated, "In the second part of the operative direction...SBI was required to submit 'the details of political parties which have received contributions through electoral bonds' since the interim order dated April 12, 2019, till date to the ECI."
“SBI was required to disclose details of each electrical bond encashed by political parties, inclusive of the date of encashment and the denomination of the electoral bond,” the court said, adding, “the above narration and a plain reading of paragraph 219 of the judgment of February 15, 2024 (striking down the electoral bonds scheme) indicates that SBI was required to submit all details both in terms of the purchase and in terms of receipt of contributions.”
The bench said, “The expression ‘include’…clearly demonstrates that the inclusive part was treated as illustrative and not exhaustive of the nature of disclosure which was to be made by SBI.”
“In other words, there is no manner of doubt that SBI is required to make a complete disclosure of all details in its possession. This, we clarify, would comprehend the alphanumeric number and the serial number of any of the bonds which were purchased and redeemed,” the court said.
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