SBI files appeal to the SC for extension of deadline to release info on electoral bonds

State Bank of India filed a request with the Supreme Court to extend the deadline till June 30, 2024 for disclosing information about election bonds that political parties have cashed, such as the date of encashment and the type of bond.

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State Bank of India filed a request with the Supreme Court to extend the deadline till June 30, 2024 for disclosing information about election bonds that political parties have cashed, such as the date of encashment and the type of bond. As of now, March 6 is the deadline.

The request, according to Moneycontrol, claimed that SBI has acknowledged that the decoding exercise and the deadline it has been given have certain practical issues. The plea goes on to say that “decoding” the electoral bonds and linking the donor to the donations made would be a “complex process” because of the strict steps they had taken to keep the contributors’ identity anonymous.

First announced by the finance minister in the Union Budget 2017–18, electoral bonds are a means of financing donations to political parties.

“No central database was maintained. This was done so as to ensure that donors’ anonymity would be protected.”

SBI quoted in a statement to the Supreme Court that “retrieval of information from each silo and the procedure of matching the information of one silo to that of the other would be a time consuming exercise”.

The plea added “On the other end, each political party was required to maintain a designated account in any of the 29 authorised Branches. It was only in this account that electoral bonds received by that party could be deposited and redeemed. At the time of redemption, the original bond, the pay-in slip would be stored in a sealed cover and sent to the SBI Mumbai Main Branch.”

Moreover the plea “the retrieval of information from each silo and the procedure of matching the information of one silo to that of the other would be a time consuming exercise.”
Earlier the SC ruled the concept of electoral bonds as unconstitutional
The plea continued “Redeemed Bonds were deposited to Mumbai Main Branch by the Authorised Branches at the end of each phase in sealed envelopes. Coupled with the fact that two different information silos existed, this would mean that a total of forty four thousand four hundred thirty four (44,434) information.”

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