SBI says it is 'ready' with electoral bonds data as ordered by Supreme Court

Electoral Bonds case: The State Bank of India is reportedly ready with electoral bonds data ordered by the Supreme Court on Monday.  The apex court had directed to bank to disclose details of the bonds encashed by political parties to the Election Commission by the close of the business hours on March 12, warning  the country's largest public sector lender that the court may proceed against it for "wilful disobedience" if it failed to comply with its directions and deadlines.

The lender, according to an NDTV Profit report, said it is ready with the data on electoral bonds, adding that mapping of data was important to avoid discrepancies. Customers can no longer claim anonymity as the disclosure has been  ordered by Supreme Court, the bank added. BT could not independently verify the development.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, while dismissing the State Bank of India's plea seeking extension of time till June 30 to disclose the details, also directed the EC to publish the information shared by the bank on its official website by 5 p.m. on March 15.

The order was passed by the bench, which also comprised Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra.

In a landmark verdict delivered on February 15, the same five-judge constitution bench had scrapped the Centre's controversial electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional", and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13.

The Congress on hailed the Supreme Court for dismissing the SBI's plea seeking an extension of time to furnish electoral bond details but said it was "halfway to truth" and the top court should also give directions so that the nation gets to know who contributed funds to the BJP to bag contracts.