22,217 electoral bonds purchased, 22,030 redeemed till Feb 15: SBI to SC

New Delhi: In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the State Bank of India (SBI) disclosed that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were bought and 22,030 were redeemed by political parties between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2024.

Following the court's directive, SBI furnished the Election Commission of India with comprehensive details regarding electoral bonds before the close of business hours on March 12. This included information such as the purchase date, purchaser names, and bond denominations for each electoral bond.

The affidavit, presented by SBI's chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, also stated that the bank provided the EC with details regarding the encashment date, recipient political parties, and bond denominations.

On March 11, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had dismissed the SBI's plea seeking an extension of time and ordered it to disclose the details of electoral bonds to the EC by close of business hours on March 12.

The apex court had also directed the EC to publish the details shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15.

In a landmark verdict delivered on February 15, a five-judge Constitution bench had scrapped the Centre's 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.

Ordering the closure of the scheme, the top court had directed the SBI, the authorised financial institution under the scheme, to submit by March 6 the details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, till date to the EC.
(With PTI inputs.)