Electoral Bond Details: SBI Refuses to Disclose Electoral Data Citing RTI Act and SC Order| Oneindia

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State Bank of India (SBI) declines to disclose details of electoral bonds submitted to the Election Commission, citing the RTI Act. In response to RTI activist Commodore (retired) Lokesh Batra's request for complete disclosure of electoral bonds data in digital format, SBI refuses, following Supreme Court's order.    #SBI #ElectoralBonds #ElectoralBondData #RTI #RTIAct #CJIChandrachud #Indianews #LokSabhaelections #Politics #Oneindia #Oneindianews                  ~ED.102~

Transcript

00:00 The State Bank of India stirred a new controversy on Thursday by declining to divulge the specifics

00:06 of electoral bonds submitted to the Election Commission of India citing the Right to Information

00:12 (RTI) Act.

00:13 Despite the records being accessible on the Election Commission's website, SBI argues

00:18 that the information is of personal nature and is held in a fiduciary capacity.

00:23 The Supreme Court characterizing the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional and manifestly

00:28 arbitrary directed SBI on 15 February this year to provide complete details of the bond

00:34 purchased since 12 April 2019 to the Election Commission.

00:38 The Election Commission was mandated to publish this information on its website by 13 March,

00:43 which they complied.

00:45 Dismissing SBI's plea for an extension of the deadline, the court insisted on disclosure

00:50 of the close of business hours of 12 March.

00:53 SBI, in its response to the access to news agency, justified its reluctance citing several

00:59 exemptions of the RTI Act pertaining to records held in a fiduciary capacity and withholding

01:05 of personal information, respectively.

01:07 However, RTI activist Lokesh Batra, seeking comprehensive disclosure of electoral bonds

01:12 data in digital format as per the court's directive, expressed dismay over the denial

01:17 of information already available on the Election Commission's website.

01:21 The Election Commission, in compliance with the court's order, published the data by SBI

01:25 on 14 March detailing donors and political parties redeeming the bonds.

01:30 Batra further sought transparency regarding the fees paid to senior advocate Harish Salve

01:35 by SBI for representing the bank in the electoral bonds case.

01:40 He argued that the denial of this information involving taxpayer money fund is unjustified.

01:45 The apex court on 15 March admonished SBI too for withholding this crucial information,

01:51 specifically the unique number assigned to each electoral bond, essentially for tracing

01:56 donors to recipient political parties.

01:58 The five-judge bench led by Chief Justice Divya Chandrachul emphasized that SBI is duty-bound

02:03 to disclose all bond details, including purchaser names, amount and purchase dates.

02:09 According to SBI, the donors purchased 22,217 electoral bonds of various denominations between

02:16 1 April 2019 to 15 April 2023, with 22,030 bonds redeemed by political parties.

02:23 This revelation highlights the significance of electoral bonds as a contentious issue

02:28 as the intersection of finance, transparency and political accountability.

02:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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