New Delhi: State 'Bond' of India

New Delhi : The Congress hit out at the Centre on Thursday over the State Bank of India (SBI) seeking more time from the Supreme Court to disclose details of electoral bonds and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "absolutely terrified" of revealing his corporate donors to people.

The SBI moved the Supreme Court on Monday, seeking an extension till June 30 to disclose the details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties. In its verdict last month, the top court directed the bank to furnish the details to the Election Commission (EC) by March 6. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh hit out at the government, saying, "Hide and seek in New India: Nation seeks, Modi hides!" "The Pradhan Mantri Chanda Chipao Yojana, implemented by the SBI, is built on lies," he said on X.

The Supreme Court had asked the SBI to provide the details of the electoral bond donors and recipients within three weeks, the former Union minister noted. The SBI has asked the apex court for time until June 30, "conveniently timed for after the upcoming Lok Sabha elections", he said. "The SBI's excuse was that its data on sale and encashment of electoral bonds is decoupled to maintain anonymity. According to the SBI, it would take months to match the buyers of the 22,217 electoral bonds issued since 2019 with the beneficiary parties," Ramesh added.

"However, we know that each electoral bond was sold with two conditions - 1. Detailed Know Your Customer (KYC) exercise by the SBI branches to identify the buyer 2. Hidden serial numbers on the bonds," the Congress leader pointed out. The SBI, therefore, definitely has the data of both the donors and the recipient political parties, he asserted. "In fact, the Finance Ministry is on record having noted in 2017 that 'The records of the purchaser are always available in the banking channel and may be retrieved as and when required by enforcement agencies'. What has changed between now and then?" Ramesh asked.

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against the State Bank of India (SBI) alleging it "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit details of contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the EC by March 6

The Communist Party of India - Marxist said SBI approaching the apex court to extend the June 30 deadline for handing over details related to electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India is an "obvious ploy" to ensure the details are not revealed before the Lok Sabha elections.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Politburo of the CPI(M) said, it is "unbelievable" that the State Bank of India, whose operations are digitised, cannot compile all the relevant details of electoral bonds in a few days' time, and alleged that the bank took the step under government's pressure.