SBI Submits Electoral Bond Details to ECI, Omits Unique Identifier Information

The State Bank of India (SBI) has reported to the Supreme Court its compliance with the directive to provide the Election Commission of India (ECI) with detailed records of electoral bonds. The bank's affidavit includes the identities of the bond purchasers, the dates and denominations of the bonds purchased, and the political parties that redeemed them. 

Notably absent from the affidavit is any mention of the unique identifier codes that could potentially trace each bond to its political beneficiary.

The SBI's chairman confirmed that the bank maintains detailed records of transactions involving electoral bonds, including the purchase and redemption dates, denominations, and parties involved. 

Following the Supreme Court's order on March 11, the bank submitted this data to the ECI in a digital format, securely password-protected, before the end of the next business day.

The affidavit specifies that the data provided covers the period from April 12, 2019, to February 15, 2024, correcting an earlier oversight that included bonds purchased from April 1, 2019. In total, 22,217 bonds were bought within this timeframe.

The ECI received the information on a pen drive containing two password-protected PDF documents, accompanied by a sealed envelope with the passwords and a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar.

The ECI is expected to review the documents through a designated committee and subsequently publish the data on its official website in the format provided by the SBI. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, currently on duty in Jammu and Kashmir, is scheduled to return to the office on Thursday to oversee this process.