'Incomplete' electoral bond info: SC pulls up SBI

NT Bureau, Agencies

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the State Bank of India over non-disclosure of the numbers unique to each electoral bond that would help in matching donors with the recipient political party, saying it was "duty bound" to reveal them.

The top court also issued a notice to the country's largest bank to explain the reasons for not revealing the unique alphanumeric numbers in compliance of its directions even as a political row erupted over the electoral bonds scheme.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the apex court had, in its verdict in the electoral bonds case, directed the disclosure of details of the bonds, including the purchaser, amount and date of purchase.

All details have to be furnished by the SBI, the CJI observed, as the court admonished the SBI for furnishing incomplete information, a day after the Election Commission put out the entire list of entities that purchased electoral bonds for making political donations.

The bench posted the electoral bonds case for resumed hearing on March 18.

While it is already known that the ruling BJP received the highest amount of donation of over Rs 6,000 crore, the data dump only disclosed the amount donated by each entity or individual. It does not say who donated to which party.

Top bond buyer under ED radar for years

Santiago Martin, who emerged as the top buyer of electoral bonds, has been under the ED radar for years.

Martin's Future Games and Hotel Services bought electoral bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore.

'Sirf BJP ko khilaunga:' Cong for SC probe

The Congress demanded a highlevel probe by the Supreme Court against the BJP and freezing of its bank accounts.

It alleged that the electoral bonds data has exposed the "corrupt tactics" of the BJP.