SBI tells Supreme Court on electoral bonds, matching donor details will take time

New Delhi:
The Supreme Court is hearing a petition by the State Bank of India seeking more time to submit information on electoral bonds. The court gave until March 6 to submit the details. The bank wants the deadline to be June 30.

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Led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and including Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra ) Bench of five Constitution Bench is hearing the case.
Lawmakers had asked Bank Negara to submit details of every electoral bond cashed by political parties before the scheme was scrapped last month.
The court will also hear a separate plea from the non-profit Association for Democratic Reform and Common Cause, which has sought contempt of court proceedings against SBI. The petitioners alleged that the bank deliberately violated the court order requiring submission of details by March 6.
On February 15, lawmakers scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that had allowed anonymous political funding. The judge called it “unconstitutional.”
Electoral bonds violate the people’s right to information and Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality. They also violated the constitutional principle of free and fair elections, the court said.
The court asked the Election Commission to provide details of the donor, the donation amount and the recipient. It said the information should be posted on the commission’s website by March 13.
The court also asked SBI to submit details of bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 to the committee by March 6.
On March 4, SBI requested the Supreme Court to extend the deadline to June 30. The bank said retrieving the information would be a time-consuming task. The need to remain anonymous complicates matters.
The Congress alleged that the BJP was using the bank as a shield. The party also claimed that the extension request was a ruse to keep the data secret ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Congress pointed out that as a fully computerized bank, SBI has all the details available in just a few clicks of the mouse, “SBI operates 480 million bank accounts, 66,000 ATMs and has nearly 23,000 branches… and SBI It will take five months to complete providing data on only 22,217 electoral bonds”.