Contempt Plea in SC against SBI’s Extension for Electoral Bonds’ Details Disclosure

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking contempt action against the State Bank of India (SBI). The petition alleges that SBI deliberately disobeyed the apex court’s directive to submit details of contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 6.

Filed by two NGOs, the plea asserts that SBI’s request for an extension until June 30 to disclose the details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties was intentionally made at the eleventh hour to prevent disclosure of donor and donation amounts to the public before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud acknowledged the submissions by advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing NGOs Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause, stating his desire for the initiation of contempt proceedings against SBI. Bhushan noted that SBI’s application is likely to be listed on March 11 and proposed that the contempt application be heard concurrently with it.

“Please send an e-mail. I will pass the order,” the CJI remarked.

SBI moved the top court on March 4, seeking an extension of time until June 30 to reveal the details of the electoral bonds that were encashed. In a landmark ruling on February 15, a five-judge constitution bench of the apex court invalidated the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, deeming it “unconstitutional” and mandating disclosure by the Election Commission of donors, donation amounts, and recipients by March 13.

Directing the immediate cessation of the scheme, the apex court instructed SBI, the authorized financial institution under the scheme, to furnish details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, till date to the Election Commission (EC) by March 6, for publication on its official website by March 13. In the contempt plea, the NGOs asserted that two days prior to the expiry of the specified deadline, SBI filed an application seeking an extension until June 30 to comply with the directives. “It is contended that the said application is mala fide and exhibits a wilful and deliberate disobedience & defiance of the judgment passed by the constitution bench of this court. It is furthermore a clear attempt to undermine the authority of this court,” it stated.

“The petitioner herein is submitting the instant petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against State Bank of India for wilfully and deliberately disobeying the order dated February 15 passed by this court… wherein this court directed SBI to submit details of contributions made to the political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India by March 6,” it elaborated.

It highlighted that the affidavit supporting SBI’s application was neither sworn by the chairman nor the managing director of the bank. It emphasized that SBI possesses records of the unique numbers allotted to each electoral bond and the know your customer (KYC) details of its purchaser.

“The requirement of the KYC is mentioned in section 4 of the EB scheme itself; hence, SBI is well aware of the identity of purchasers of each electoral bond,” the plea elucidated. It pointed out that as per clause 7 of the electoral bond scheme, information provided by the buyer can be disclosed upon demand by a competent court. “As per clause 12 (4) of the scheme, electoral bonds must be encashed within fifteen days failing which the amount of bonds not encashed is to be deposited by the bank to the PM relief Fund. Thus, it is inconceivable that SBI does not have the recorded information readily available within its database,” it argued. The plea emphasized that electoral bonds are “completely traceable,” evident from the fact that SBI maintains a secret number-based record of donors who purchase bonds and the political parties they donate to. It cited information obtained through RTI, indicating that in 30 phases of electoral bond sales, only 19 out of 29 SBI authorized branches sold electoral bonds and 14 SBI branches encashed them.

“The data available as of January 2024 further demonstrates that only 25 political parties had opened their accounts and are eligible for encashing electoral bonds. Therefore, compiling this information should not be difficult as the system is already in place,” it asserted.

“It is imperative that SBI furnishes all information relating to electoral bonds within the stipulated timeframe given by this court as voters will not be able to exercise their informed opinion properly during Lok Sabha 2024 if complete information about EBs is not shared with them,” it emphasized.

The plea further noted that any form of anonymity in the finances of political parties contravenes the essence of participatory democracy and people’s right to know enshrined under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

It contended that the availability of information about electoral bonds will afford voters the opportunity to genuinely inspect, express, and decide their choices. “This defiant approach of SBI towards citizens’ ‘right to know’ about huge sums of money received by parties through electoral bonds and corporates in a non-transparent and unaccountable manner is reprehensible and betrays its clear motive to stifle citizens’ voices and rights to audit the actions of the political class, and therefore, it should be deemed a serious breach of contempt by this court,” it alleged.