The Supreme Court is set to hear the State Bank of India’s (SBI) plea regarding the deadline extension for disclosing electoral bond donor details on March 11. The SBI has requested an extension until June 30 to reveal the details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties. The bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, will also address a separate plea seeking contempt against the SBI for allegedly disobeying the court’s direction to submit these details to the Election Commission by March 6.
The SBI was instructed to provide information on electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, by March 6, with the Election Commission tasked to publish the data on its website by March 13. This directive followed the Supreme Court’s decision on February 15, which declared the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional. As the authorized financial institution under the scheme, the SBI missed the March 6 deadline, prompting its plea for an extension to gather and match the required information.
Concurrently, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) filed a contempt petition against the SBI for failing to comply with the court’s directive. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing ADR, informed the court about the SBI’s extension request and urged ADR’s plea to be heard alongside it. The matter is expected to be addressed when the court reconvenes, ensuring transparency and adherence to legal directives in electoral funding processes.