NEW DELHI: Chief Election Commissioner
Rajiv Kumar
on Wednesday said the poll panel has received data on
electoral bonds
from State Bank of India and it will be disclosed on time. The
Supreme Court
had on Monday set Friday 5pm deadline for the Election Commission to display the details on purchase of electoral bonds.
The State Bank of India had on Tuesday evening provided all the details to Election Commission after Supreme Court rejected its plea for extension of time till June 30 for sharing details of bonds.
SBI
chairman had filed an affidavit in Supreme Court apprising that in compliance with the top court’s order, date of purchase of each electoral bond, the name of the purchaser and the denomination of the electoral bond purchased has been furnished to the Election Commission of India.
Dinesh Kumar Khara in the affidavit also told the top court that the bank has also furnished the detail to Election Commission regarding the date of encashment of the electoral bonds, the name of political parties who have received the contributions and the denomination of the said bonds.
The Supreme Court, had last month, struck down the Electoral Bonds Scheme which allowed for anonymous funding to political parties, and ordered the SBI to stop issuing electoral bonds immediately.
A five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra had unanimously quashed the scheme as well as amendments made to the Income Tax Act and the Representation of People Act which had made the donations anonymous.
It had asked SBI to furnish details and the details about each electoral bonds encashed by the political parties, which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of electoral bond.
An electoral bond is an instrument in the nature of a promissory note or bearer bond which can be purchased by any individual, company, firm or association of persons provided the person or body is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. The bonds are issued specifically for the purpose of contribution of funds to political parties.
(With inputs from agencies)
