The Election Commission is scheduled to upload the electoral bond details provided by the State Bank of India (SBI) on its official website by 5 pm on March 15.
“In compliance with the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s directions to the SBI, as per its orders dated February 15 and March 11, 2024 (in the matter of WPC NO.880 of 2017), data on electoral bonds has been furnished by the State Bank of India to the Election Commission of India today, March 12, 2024,” stated the poll panel.
Since the inception of the electoral bond scheme in 2018, the State Bank of India has issued electoral bonds worth ₹16,518 crore in 30 tranches.
The release of electoral bond data by the poll panel holds significance as it precedes the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Although the Supreme Court instructed India’s largest lender to submit details on electoral bonds, it did not explicitly direct SBI to share information with the Election Commission regarding the correlation of donor data with political party affiliations. While most details concerning political parties’ redemption of electoral bonds are publicly available, related donor data remains undisclosed.
Upon the release of electoral bond data, information regarding the recipients of donations, the dates of transactions, and the amounts involved will be unveiled. The bond data will provide a comprehensive list of recipients.
It’s essential to note that if a company, such as ‘A’, purchases electoral bonds worth ₹1,000, and a political party, ‘B’, receives bonds of the same value, it cannot be conclusively inferred that ‘A’ donated ₹1,000 to ‘B’.
As per TOI’s reports, the details provided by SBI may lack the ‘unique number’ assigned to each bond. Consequently, only if both the donor and recipient possess the bond number can the details be matched accurately.
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