Court rejects state bank's request to publish details of previously anonymous political donations by June, citing upcoming national elections.
India's Supreme Court has rejected a plea by the government-run State Bank of India (SBI) for more time to share details of people and companies that bought its controversial electoral bonds to fund political parties.
On Monday, the top court said the information it sought is available with the bank and asked to share it with the Election Commission of India (ECI) “before the close of business” on Tuesday.
ICE should collect the information and post the details on its website by 5:30 p.m. (11:30 GMT) on March 12, the five-judge court ordered, days before the general election dates. , scheduled for May. be announced.
“We advise the SBI that we may be inclined to proceed for willful disobedience of a court order if it fails to comply with the schedule given today,” the court said.
The electoral financing system, called electoral bonds, was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in 2017. It allowed individuals and companies to make unlimited, anonymous donations to political parties through certificates purchased from the SBI.
On February 15, the Supreme Court threw out the system, calling it “unconstitutional” and saying it “infringes the voter's right to information,” a setback for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been the biggest beneficiary of the bonds. .
The court ruled that the SBI must submit details of each bond – including who bought it – since April 2019 to the ECI, which must publish those details on its website by March 13.
The SBI had requested an extension for the publication of the bonus details until June 30, by which time the general elections would have been completed.
Critics had condemned the election finance system as an opaque way to funnel “dark money” into parties, but supporters said it provided better regulation than cash donations, which remain legal. Critics also feared it would give the government the power to access donor data through the state-owned SBI.
The electoral bond system, in place for seven years, was questioned by members of the opposition and a civil society group on the grounds that it hindered the public's right to know who had donated money to political parties.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-governmental organization that analyzed secret donations made to various political parties between 2018 and March 2022, found that 57 percent of them (around $600 million) went to the BJP. .
ADR, which was a petitioner challenging the election financing system in the Supreme Court, also found that individuals and companies purchased 165.18 billion rupees ($2 billion) of bonds in total until November 2023.
