Electoral Bonds Case: How Political Leaders Reacted to SC’s Verdict on SBI Plea

New Delhi: In a major turn of events, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed State Bank of India’s (SBI) plea seeking extension of time to disclose the electoral bond donor details to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The move has been welcomed by leaders of various political parties.

Reacting to Supreme Court order on SBI’s plea, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav expressed delight and said "The people of the entire country should be informed about this. Glad that at least the list (list of people associated with electoral bonds) will come through the Supreme Court. From this list it will be known to whom the election bonds related to. Now, the question is whether that list will be made public or not." The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot also welcomed the the apex court’s decision. 

Gehlot said, "Welcome worthy instructions!" He said, "The direction of the Honourable Supreme Court to submit the necessary information of SBI Electoral Bond by tomorrow is welcome and important for the protection of democracy." He said SBI asking for time on this issue raises doubts on its trust and transparency.

"SBI's credibility has gone down. SBI can submit the list in a day but they asked for six months. It creates doubt that on whom advice the SBI was asking for the extension. This electoral bond is a scam and it'll be exposed someday. Supreme Court has rightly asked the SBI to submit the report by tomorrow...", he added.

Whereas CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said “this is in the interest of transparency of political funding in the country, particularly electoral funding.”
“We welcome the fact that the Supreme Court has dismissed the plea of the SBI.”, he added. 

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the State Bank of India's plea seeking extension of time and directed it to furnish the details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission by close of business hours on March 12. 

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud also directed the Election Commission to publish the details shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15. 

During the hearing, the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, took note of the submissions of senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the SBI, that more time was needed for collating the details and matching them as the information were kept in two different silos with its branches.

The SBI had sought an extension till June 30 to disclose the details of each electoral bond encashed by the political parties before the scheme was scrapped. 

(With PTI inputs)