Former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg highlighted that while the State Bank of India (SBI) had access to details such as who bought electoral bonds and when, matching each bond with its recipient party was deemed impossible. He criticized SBI’s request to the Supreme Court for more time to provide data as a “cooked up excuse.”
The Supreme Court had struck down the electoral bond scheme on February 15 and instructed SBI to furnish donor and party details to the Election Commission by March 6, with the EC set to make the data public by March 13.
But SbI filed a plea before SC for extension of time.
The Supreme Court’s constitution bench, led by CJI DY Chandrachud, is scheduled to address this matter on March 11. The hearing is not only crucial for SBI but also for the broader discourse on electoral finance in India. The bench’s decision could set a precedent for how financial transparency is maintained in the context of political funding.
Garg noted that the Supreme Court had requested the State Bank of India (SBI) to provide information regarding the electoral bonds purchased, including the date and amount.
However, while SBI’s application suggested that it required until June 30 to correlate donors with their donations due to the data being stored physically in separate silos, Garg emphasized that this was not in line with the court’s directive. He criticized the bank’s approach, accusing it of attempting to mislead the court into a “wild goose chase.“
“Even if one takes into account they may not have entered the denomination separately, the information of who bought, on what date, how much of the electoral bond is available on the computer. Similarly, who deposited, for how much of the EB amount, and on which date, that’s also available on the computers as that was deposited in their accounts. That’s all the SC has asked for…,”
he said.
“The donor name is available for the amount of EB purchased, what is not available is for which particular bond, who bought it. Since all bonds have come back to SBI, even if you get access to a bond, you can’t determine who had purchased this bond and who had deposited it. So what SBI is saying is that ‘we will need this much time to make this connection’, they will never be able to do it. It is a cooked up excuse.”
he further added.
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