•The Supreme Court dismissed an application by State Bank of India (SBI) for time till June 30, 2024 to provide details of electoral bonds purchased anonymously and their encashment by political parties.
•A five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, which had on February 15 struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional,.
•Once SBI forwards the details, the EC has to compile and publish the data on its official website on March 15 by 5 p.m.
•Senior advocate Harish Salve, for SBI, explained that matching bonds purchased and names of donors with the parties which redeemed the bonds was “time-consuming and complex” exercise. Details were kept in two separate silos and not stored in digital format.
•But Chief Justice Chandrachud said the judgment had not asked the bank to “match” information to ascertain who contributed to which political parties. “We had only asked you to do a plain disclosure… We just wanted you to comply with the judgment.”