SBI submits all details of electoral bonds, including unique codes, to Election Commission

The State Bank of India on Thursday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court confirming that it has disclosed all details relating to the electoral bonds scheme – including the unique alphanumeric numbers and serial numbers of the bonds – to the Election Commission.

The alphanumeric and serial numbers of electoral bonds can be used to match donations made using the financial instruments to the parties that received them.

On March 18, the top court ordered the public sector bank to submit all details related to the scheme to the poll body by 5 pm on Thursday. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the State Bank of India cannot be selective in disclosing information about electoral bonds.

The court’s February 15 verdict had mandated the State Bank of India to disclose “all details” including the bonds’ dates of purchase or redemption, names of their purchasers or recipients and their denomination, Live Law reported.

In the bank’s affidavit filed on Thursday, Dinesh Kumar Khara, the bank’s chairman, said that the data finally disclosed to the poll panel includes the names of the purchasers of the bonds, the names of the parties that have encashed the bonds, the last four digits of the bank account numbers of the political parties, the denominations of the...

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