Electoral bonds case: Can’t disclose bank details, KYC of parties, donors due to security reasons, SBI tells SC.
SBI Electoral Bonds case: The State Bank of India on Thursday refrained from disclosing the KYC details of political parties and donors, along with their bank details, citing security reasons. The public sector bank, however, submitted details of electoral bonds including the ‘Unique alpha-numeric’ details of bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the bank’s Chairman said in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday, March 21.
The unique bond numbers would help in revealing the link between the purchasers of SBI electoral bonds buyers and the political parties receiving them. The SBI, in its affidavit, said that it has not withheld any information apart from complete account numbers and KYC details as per the Supreme Court order.
“Similarly, KYC details of purchasers are also not being made public for security reasons, apart from the fact that such information is not fed/collated in the system. However, they are not necessary for identifying the political parties,” the affidavit filed by bank chairperson Dinesh Kumar Khara said.
The SBI filed the affidavit after the apex court lashed out at the public lender for delays in disclosing the electoral bonds scheme details, and asked it to stop being “selective”. The SC also ordered the bank to make a “full” disclosure of details linked to the electoral bond scheme by 21 March.
Details of the SBI electoral bond data revealed to EC
The SBI disclosed in its affidavit details such as the purchaser’s name, bond denomination and specific number, the name of the party redeeming it, the last four digits of the bank account number of political parties cashing the bond, and the denomination and unique number of the redeemed bond.
“It is respectfully submitted that SBI has now disclosed all details and that no details (other than complete account numbers & KYC details) have been withheld from disclosure in terms of the directions contained in… the judgment dated February 15, 2024, read with the order dated March 18, 2024, passed by this court,” the affidavit said.
The five-judge constitution bench declared the central government’s electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional on February 15. The bench also directed the SBI to submit bond scheme details to the EC so that they can be disclosed to the public.