The Election Commission of India has asked the Supreme Court to give back the sealed envelopes containing data on electoral bonds encashed by political parties as it did not retain copies of the documents.
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NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has appealed to the Supreme Court to revise its March 11 ruling, which dismissed the State Bank of India‘s plea for an extension until June 30 to furnish data on electoral bonds.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliberate on the Election Commission’s application Today, March 15.
Moreover, the Election Commission has sought the Supreme Court’s guidance regarding the data it had submitted to the court concerning the now-defunct electoral bonds. The commission emphasized that it relayed to the court the data provided by political parties regarding the redeemed bonds without retaining copies.
Adding to the context, the commission highlighted that the data was submitted to the Supreme Court in sealed envelopes, complying with the top court’s directives in 2019 and 2023. It has requested the Supreme Court to return the data, citing its inability to disclose the information on its website until the sealed envelopes are returned.
According to the Election Commission, it submitted a total of 309 sealed envelopes containing data on electoral bonds to the Supreme Court in 2019, followed by an additional 214 such envelopes in 2023.
Following the Supreme Court’s March 11 order, the State Bank of India promptly submitted the electoral bonds data to the Election Commission of India the next day.
On Thursday, the Election Commission published the electoral bonds data provided by SBI on its official website. The commission was instructed to release the details, as received from SBI, on its website by 5 pm on March 15.
The data shows the purchase of now-scrapped electoral bonds of denominations between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore, since April 12, 2019. The information also showcases purchases made by both companies and individuals.
However, the information released on the website does not show how much each party received from a certain company or individual.
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