SBI sends data on Electoral Bonds to Election Commission after Supreme Court order

The State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday furnished to the Election Commission of India (ECI), all the details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties since April 12, 2019. .The data was sent to the ECI in compliance with the Supreme Court order of Monday which had mandated that the same be done by 5:30 pm today.The Court had also asked ECI to compile and publish the data on its website by March 15, Friday. However, sources told Bar & Bench that the data sent by SBI to the ECI is in raw format and compiling all the data for publication on the ECI website by March 15 "will be a challenge.".The Supreme Court had, on Monday, dismissed a plea by SBI to extend the deadline set by the top court for furnishing details of electoral bonds..In a judgment rendered on February 15, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had unanimously quashed the Electoral Bonds Scheme and directed SBI to submit the details of the political parties that have received contributions through electoral bonds from April 12, 2019, to the ECI.The Court in that judgment had ordered that details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties must be furnished by the SBI to the ECI by March 6.The following were the details that SBI was required to furnish:- Details of each electoral bonds purchased;- Name of purchaser;- Denomination of electoral bonds; and- Details of each electoral bond redeemed by political parties including the date of encashment.The ECI was to then publish this information on its official website within one week of receiving this information from the SBI.However, the SBI then filed an application before apex court for an extension of the deadline till June 30 to comply with the directions.The Supreme Court dismissed the application on March 11 and directed that the details be supplied to ECI by 5.30 pm today..The electoral bonds scheme allowed donors to anonymously send funds to a political party after buying bearer bonds from the State Bank of India (SBI).It was introduced introduced through the Finance Act, 2017, which in turn amended three other statutes - the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Income Tax Act and the Representation of People Act.Various petitions were filed before the top court challenging at least five amendments made to different statutes through the Finance Act, 2017 on the ground that they have opened doors to unlimited, unchecked funding of political parties.The Court agreed with the same and struck down the scheme.