Closing of Financial Year, Lok Sabha Polls: Timing of SC’s Electoral Bonds Diktat Makes SBI Sweat

It was a huge blow to the operations of the State Bank of India (SBI) when the Supreme Court rejected its plea for an extension to furnish details of electoral bonds.

Sources say SBI is ready with the details which will be uploaded on the Election Commission (EC) website by March 15 as asked by the court.

However, the verdict by the court has left many in a fix and unhappy. The reason is timing.

Sources in the government say the idea of electoral bonds was introduced to clean up a grey area. While it never presumed that it would make the process of political donations completely transparent and check black money, it hoped that there would be transparency in donations.

A top government source said: “Now, it’s back to the dark days. Look at the timing; it is just before Lok Sabha elections. Now there is no way of knowing where the money is coming from and where it could be diverted.” For instance, one worry is that the drug nexus has expanded its footprint in Tamil Nadu. Will this money be used to fund elections?

The message that has gone out is that there is no such thing as confidentiality of donations. The move is also a violation of non-disclosure of banking laws.

But more than that, it’s a mammoth exercise even for the SBI to curate all the bonds collected at its branches across the country. With March 31 being the last day of the financial year and banks busy with closing, for them to concentrate and divert energy on curating the bonds is a herculean task.

A top government source asked: “How is this to be appreciated? The SBI had asked for time, not to hide date, but to ensure that data is collected and curated correctly and in an organised manner.”

However, with the court order, the bank will put out all the details on the EC website by March 15.