SC Allows Electoral Bonds Data Return, Seeks Disclosure of Unique Bond Numbers

The Supreme Court on Friday granted permission for the electoral bonds data held by it to be returned to the Election Commission of India.

Simultaneously, the Court issued a notice to the State Bank of India regarding the disclosure of the unique numbers assigned to the bonds. This decision came during a hearing on SBI's reluctance to share the distinctive alphanumeric codes associated with each electoral bond, which could facilitate tracking donors and their contributions to political parties.

Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioner Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in the Supreme Court, indicated that they intend to approach the Court to emphasize the importance of disclosing the unique bond numbers for each transaction, aiding in the identification of donors and the political parties benefiting from their contributions.

Also Read: Electoral Bond Data Reveals Major Donors and Political Party Recipients