A contempt petition has been filed before the Supreme Court as the State Bank of India missed the March 6 deadline to share details of electoral bonds of political parties.

The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), which is the chief petitioner in this case, alleges that the SBI has violated the court's orders in the electoral bonds case.

The Supreme Court had instructed the SBI to share details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties by Wednesday (March 6). SBI has requested an extension until June 30.

SBI moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of time until June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond, citing practical difficulties.

ADR's plea states that SBI has willfully and deliberately disobeyed the judgment passed by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, which not only denies citizens their right to information but also intentionally undermines the authority of the court.

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on February 15 invalidated the electoral bonds scheme, terming it "unconstitutional". The ruling was delivered by a five-judge Constitution Bench, putting an end to a contentious method of political funding that has been under scrutiny since its inception.

"SBI shall furnish the details of donations through electoral bonds and the details of the political parties which received the contributions. SBI shall furnish the details of electoral bonds encashed by the political parties. SBI shall submit the details to the ECI in three weeks and ECI shall publish these details on the website," the Chief Justice said while announcing the judgment last month.

The electoral bonds scheme, introduced in 2018, aimed to enhance transparency in political donations. However, critics argued that the anonymity provided by the scheme fostered corruption and disrupted the level playing field among political parties.

Source: India Today