SBI seeks time till June 30 to disclose details of poll bonds
The State Bank of India (SBI) has approached the Supreme Court, seeking an extension until June 30, 2024, to disclose details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties.
Currently, the deadline for this disclosure is set for March 6.
In a petition filed before the court, SBI highlighted the complexity of decoding the bonds and matching donors to their contributions.
The bank cited the absence of a centralised database, with details of purchases made at branches not maintained in a single repository.
According to SBI, the data related to the issuance and redemption of the bonds are recorded separately, adding to the intricacy of the process.
The petition comes in response to the Supreme Court’s directive to share electoral bond donor data by March 6.
SBI contended that the three-week timeframe provided since February 15, 2024, is insufficient to compile and verify the extensive data, which involves decoding, compiling, and comparing 44,434 data sets.