SBI Electoral Bonds List Revealed: What Happens Now?

SBI Electoral Bonds List Revealed: A day after the list of the biggest donations to political parties was revealed, the Supreme Court of India has criticised the State Bank of India for not sharing the unique serial numbers of banned electoral bonds. The court had previously ordered the bank to disclose all details about these bonds, including their serial numbers. However, the SBI didn't fully comply with this order.

A special group of judges from India's highest court, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and including Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, stated that the State Bank of India (SBI) didn't completely follow their order from March 11. In that order, they had told the bank to share all information about Electoral Bonds.

The judges noticed that the SBI didn't reveal the special codes on each electoral bond. They sent a message to the SBI, asking for a reply by March 18. The Supreme Court highlighted that their earlier ruling made it clear that all details of electoral bonds should be shared, including when they were bought, who bought them, and how much they were worth.

Previously, on February 14, the Supreme Court criticised the electoral bonds scheme, calling it unconstitutional. They instructed the SBI to provide details about the bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI), which would then make the information public. Originally, the SBI was supposed to give this data to the ECI by March 6, but they asked for more time until June 30, which the Court denied.

SBI | Photo: Reuters

During the hearing, senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the SBI, said they needed more time to gather and match the information since it was stored in different places. However, the Court clarified they just wanted the information disclosed, not matched. Eventually, the SBI published the data on March 12, and the EC made it public on March 14.

The data revealed that a little-known lottery company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, was the largest donor, followed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd. Other notable donors included steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Bharti Airtel, Vedanta, and several other big corporations.

The list of buyers and redeemers included various political parties from across the country, such as the BJP, Congress, AIADMK, and many others.

SBI Electoral Bonds: 10 Companies That Made The Biggest Donations

1. Future Gaming and Hotel Services-Rs 1368 crore

2. Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd-Rs 966 crore

3. Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd-Rs 410 crore

4. Haldia Energy Ltd-Rs 377 crore

5. Vedanta Ltd-Rs 376 crore

6. Essel Mining and Industries Ltd-Rs 225 crore

7. Western UP Power Transmission Company Ltd-Rs 220 crore

8.-Bharti Airtel ltd-Rs 198 crore

9. Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd-Rs 195 crore

10.Madanlal Ltd-Rs 192 crore

Electoral Bonds have made headlines again as the State Bank of India (SBI) shared details with the Election Commission of India (ECI) following a Supreme Court order. If you're not up to speed on this topic, the below details will fill you in. Once you're in the loop, we'll talk about what happens next. But first, let's start with the basics - what exactly are electoral bonds?

What are electoral bonds?

Electoral bonds are like special papers that let people and companies give money to political parties without revealing who they are. These bonds are handled by the State Bank of India (SBI), which is the bank authorised to do this. People can buy these bonds in amounts of Rs 1000 from SBI branches during specific times set by the government. Political parties can then turn these bonds into cash through their bank accounts within a certain time.

These bonds came into play through the Finance Bill, 2017 during the Union Budget 2017-18. The idea was to make political funding more open. Before this, the maximum amount of cash someone could give to a political party was capped at Rs 2,000.

Why Were Electoral Bonds Challenged?

Supreme Court of India | Photo: BCCL

You might be wondering why there's a fuss about electoral bonds. Well, two groups, ADR and Common Cause, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) questioned how these bonds work.

According to the Money Bill 2017, all political parties have to say who gives them more than Rs 20,000 in cash. But if the money comes from electoral bonds, the donor's name doesn't have to be told, no matter how much they give. Since SBI issues these bonds, they keep the list of who gives and who gets them.

Because the names of donors giving through electoral bonds aren't public, big organisations might use this to get favors from the government, like special permissions or contracts. These big donations can also have a big impact during election time.

Supreme Court Decision

Here's what the Supreme Court said in its ruling last month:

• SBI must stop selling electoral bonds.
• By March 15, the Election Commission must put this info on its website.
• SBI has to give details about which political parties got the bonds and all the info they got by March 6. This includes who bought the bonds, when, and for how much. SBI also has to tell about parties who got money through these bonds. They have to say what happened to each bond that was turned into cash.
• If political parties haven't turned bonds into cash, SBI has to give the money back to the people who bought them.

Did SBI Share Electoral Bond Details?

Supreme Court of India | Photo: BCCL

Last week, SBI asked for more than three months to follow the Supreme Court order - till June 30, 2024. But the Supreme Court said no. Finally, on March 12, SBI shared details with the Election Commission. In the report, SBI said people bought 22,217 electoral bonds, and parties turned 22,030 of them into cash between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2024.

Between April 1, 2019, and April 11 the same year, 3,346 bonds were bought, and 1,609 were turned into cash. From April 12, 2019, to February 15, 2024, people bought 18,871 bonds, and parties cashed 20,421 of them.

What Comes Next?

Next, the Election Commission will share the data from SBI on its website. This data will show when each bond was bought, who bought it, and how much it was worth.

To sum up - while the info about redeemed electoral bonds is already public, the Supreme Court ruling makes donor data public too. Once this data is out, we'll know who gave money to which party on which date and how much.