TN: CPI(M) Protests SBI’s Plea in SC for More Time to Submit Electoral Bonds Donors’ List

The State Bank of India’s (SBI) decision to seek extension of time to submit the details of the donors of electoral bonds (EB) to the Election Commission of India (ECI) has sparked another controversy. The public sector banking major on Monday moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking time till June 30 to furnish the details of donors, citing the decoding process, while the bank was directed to submit the details to the ECI by March 6.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the only political party to approach the SC against the EBs, held protests on March 5 against the decision of the SBI management to seek extension. The party has accused the bank of succumbing to pressure from the ruling dispensation (the BJP) to hide the details of the donors until the upcoming elections are complete. 

Speaking with Newsclick, M Ahamed Hussain, district secretariat member of the Kanniyakumari district unit of the CPI(M), questioned the intention behind the delaying tactics of SBI.

“The reason cited by the SBI for the extension is rather surprising. Even a data entry operator can decode and obtain the list of donors. We suspect political pressure on SBI for seeking so much time for completing a simple process”, he said. 

The SC also directed the political parties and donors to surrender the bonds which were not encashed to the bank. Electoral bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore were donated by different donors to political parties since the introduction of the opaque system on April 12, 2019 by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government. 

“As per the information available, there are 22,217 donors of electoral bonds. The SBI has the details of the donors. But we understand that the BJP government wants to delay the disclosure till the elections are over in May 2024.  Despite the SC concluding that the bonds are unconstitutional and a form of corruption, the BJP wants to hide crucial details”, Hussain added. 

The BJP is the biggest beneficiary of the electoral bond system, with the party receiving Rs 6,565 crore while the opposition Congress received Rs 1,123 crores. The BJP had received 57% of the total electoral bonds, while the Congress pocketed around 10%.

“The BJP was using the crores of money received from corporate companies to fund election campaigns and topple non-BJP governments in different states. Now, with the SC pronouncing the electoral bonds as unconstitutional and a form of corruption, the BJP is embarking upon other forms to source money. We saw the Prime Minister donating Rs 2,000 to the BJP and asking others to donate though his social media handles”, Hussain said. 

The CPI(M) has decided to hold continuous protests against the SBI management and the Union government, condemning the delaying tactics to hide the details of the corporate donors to the BJP through electoral bonds.