Supreme Court To Hear SBI's Plea Seeking More Time To Disclose Electoral Bonds Data: Here's All You Need To Know

The Supreme Court of India is set to hear a plea from the State Bank of India (SBI) today (11 March), seeking an extension of the deadline to 30 June for disclosing the details of electoral bonds redeemed by political parties.

The five-judge Constitution bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and includes Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear the matter at 10.30 am on Monday (11 March).

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The bench will also hear a separate plea that seeks to initiate contempt proceedings against the SBI for allegedly "wilfully and deliberately" disobeying the SC's deadline for submission of details.

The plea was filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on 7 March.

The apex Court had on 15 February scrapped the Electoral Bond Scheme and directed India's largest public bank to submit all details regarding the same to the Election Commission of India by 6 March.

Further, the ECI has been directed to publish the received data on its website by 13 March.

The scheme, introduced by the Centre to allow anonymous political funding, was deemed by the SC Constitution bench as "unconstitutional".

The apex Court said that the Scheme violates the right to information (RTI), and can lead to quid pro quo.

“Electoral bonds scheme is not the only scheme to curb black money. There are other alternatives," the top court added.

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