The EC said it has uploaded the data on electoral bonds on its website as received from SBI on an "as is where is basis".
Complete data on electoral bonds with details of donors, political parties and unique alphanumeric codes
The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday, 21 March, made public a fresh data set of electoral bonds, including their alpha-numeric numbers that can help match their purchasers with the political parties that received the funds.
Two separate lists of the donors and the recipients were published by the poll panel on its website after the details were submitted to it by the State Bank of India (SBI) earlier in the day as per a Supreme Court order.
The SBI was the only bank authorised to sell and redeem the bonds, which were first issued in March 2018 and were being sold until the scheme was declared null and void by the top court last month.
The EC said it has uploaded the data on electoral bonds on its website as received from SBI on an “as is where is basis”.
In a compliance affidavit filed in the apex court, the SBI chairman said the complete bank account numbers and KYC details of the political parties have not been made public “as it may compromise the security of the account (cyber security)”.
“Similarly, KYC details of purchasers are also not being made public for security reasons, apart from the fact that such information is not fed/collated in the system. However, they are not necessary for identifying the political parties,” the affidavit filed by bank chairperson Dinesh Kumar Khara said.
The affidavit said the SBI revealed information that would show the name of the purchaser of the bond, its denomination and specific number, the name of the party that encashed it, the last four digits of the bank account number of political parties that redeemed the bond and the denomination and the unique number of the bond encashed.
“On 21 March, 2024, the State Bank of India has provided/ disclosed all details of the electoral bonds which are in its possession and custody to the Election Commission of India,” it said.
“It is respectfully submitted that SBI has now disclosed all details and that no details (other than complete account numbers & KYC details) have been withheld from disclosure in terms of the directions contained in… the judgment dated 15 February, 2024 read with order dated 18 March, 2024 passed by this court,” the affidavit said.
On 18 March, the apex court told the SBI to stop being “selective” and make “complete disclosure” of all details related to the electoral bonds scheme by 21 March.
(With PTI inputs)
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