22,217 electoral bonds purchased and 22,030 redeemed: SBI tells SC

The State Bank of India on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that 22,217 electoral bonds were sold between April 1, 2019 and February 15, 20124. It also mentioned that of these, 22,030 bonds were redeemed during the said period.

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These details were part of the affidavit submitted by SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara in compliance with the apex court’s directions on March 11. The SBI has submitted the electoral bond data to the Election Commission of India (ECI) which has said that it will upload the same by 5 pm on March 15 (Friday) as per the court’s directions.

“The SBI was supposed to submit the data by March 12. They have given to us the details in time. I will go back and look at the data (and) would definitely disclose it in time,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said in a press conference in Jammu. He was there to review general poll preparedness in the Union Territory.

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According to the affidavit, details, including date of purchase of each electoral bonds, names of the purchaser and the denomination of the bonds purchased have been furnished. The bank has also furnished to the EC details like date of encashment of the electoral bonds, the names of political parties which received the contributions and the denominations of the bonds.

Details furnished

The affidavit said between April 1, 2019 and April 11, 2019, a total of 3,346 electoral bonds were purchased and 1,609 redeemed. Further, it said from April 12, 2019 to February 15 this year, a total of 18,871 electoral bonds were purchased and 20,421 were redeemed.

• Also read: SC declares electoral bonds scheme ‘unconstitutional’

“The State Bank of India has ready records in which the date of purchase, denomination and name of buyer were recorded, and (in relation to the political parties) the date of encashment and the denominations of the bonds encashed were recorded,” the affidavit said, adding that in compliance with the court’s directions, a record of this information was made available to the EC by hand delivering in digital form (password protected) before the close of business hours on March 12.

“As per direction no. (b), the date of purchase of each electoral bond, the name of the purchaser and the denomination of the electoral bond purchased has been furnished. In terms of direction no.(c), the date of encashment of the electoral bonds, the name of political parties who have received the contributions and the denomination of the said bonds has also been furnished,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit also contains as annexure a copy of letter as proof of service of data sent by the SBI to EC. “The amount of the electoral bonds which were not encashed by the political party within the validity period of 15 days during this period have been transferred to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, as per the Gazette notification no.20 dated January 2, 2018,” reads the letter sent by the SBI to the poll panel.

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