SBI moves SC seeking extension of time to disclose details of electoral bonds

State Bank of India, on Monday, moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of time till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties.

In an application filed before the top court, State Bank of India (SBI) contended that retrieval of information from "each silo" and the procedure of matching the information of one silo to that of the other would be a time-consuming exercise.

The plea submitted that due to stringent measures undertaken to ensure that the identity of the donors was kept anonymous, "decoding” the electoral bonds and matching donors to the donations made would be a complex process.

In a landmark judgement that delivered a big blow to the government, the Supreme Court on February 15 annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding, saying it violates the Constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information.

In its verdict months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the apex court ordered SBI to disclose to the Election Commission the names of the contributors to the six-year-old scheme.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud directed that the SBI must disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties.

The information should include the date of encashment and the denomination of the bonds and be submitted to the poll panel by March 6.