Plea in SC seeks disclosure of electoral bonds sold from Mar 1, 2018, to Apr 11, 2019

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking disclosure of the details of electoral bonds sold from March 1, 2018, to April 11, 2019, saying voters are entitled to know funding to political parties for the entire period since the start of the scheme.

In a landmark verdict last month, the top court scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered the State Bank of India (SBI), the authorised financial institution under the scheme, to submit the details of the bonds purchased from April 12, 2019 to February 15, 2024 to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

A new application, filed by Citizen’s Rights Trust, has submitted that 9,159 bonds worth Rs 4,002 crore have been sold between March 2018 to April 2019 which should also be disclosed.

The petition seeks a direction to the SBI to share the details of electoral bonds sold and redeemed from March 1, 2018, to April 11, 2019, including the alphanumeric number, date of purchase, denomination, names of donors and parties to the ECI.

“It is submitted that once the entire Electoral Bond Scheme is held to be violative of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, the citizens are entitled to know the details of the donor and donee of the entire period from March 2018 onwards (the date when the scheme became functional).

“The data available on the platform of the Election Commission represents only 76 per cent of the total bonds and the voters are not aware of the details of the remaining 24 per cent of the Electoral Bonds,” the plea said.

The association, represented through senior advocate Vijay Hansaria and advocate Sneha Kalita, submitted that the cut-off date of April 12, 2019, is relevant only for furnishing information by political parties to the Election Commission as an interim arrangement when the matter was sub-judice before the apex court.

“Once, this court, in the final judgement and order dated February 15, 2024, has struck down the entire Electoral Bond Scheme and the amendments to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Companies Act, 2013 and the Income Tax Act, 1961 by the Finance Act, 2017, the voters are entitled to know the funding to the political parties by the Electoral Bond for the entire period,” it said.

While the SBI was directed to submit the details of the bonds purchased from April 12, 2019, to February 15, 2024, to the ECI by March 6, the bank moved the top court seeking an extension of time till June 30 to furnish the details. However, the Supreme Court trashed the plea and ordered it to disclose the details by the close of business hours on March 12.

The ECI was directed to publish the information shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15.