Last-ditch attempt to hide Modi's real face: Rahul on SBI plea on electoral bonds

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday challenged the Union government over the State Bank of India (SBI) moving the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the deadline to disclose details of the electoral bonds scheme, terming it a "last-ditch attempt" before the Lok Sabha polls to hide Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "real face".

The SBI on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the deadline until 30 June to disclose details of electoral bonds cashed by political parties. In its verdict last month, the apex court had directed the SBI to furnish these details to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by 6 March.

In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, "Narendra Modi is using all his might to hide the 'donation business'. When the Supreme Court has stated that it is the right of the people of the country to know the truth about electoral bonds, then why does the SBI not want this information to be made public before the elections?" the Congress MP wrote.

Asking for time until 30 June to provide information that can be retrieved "at one click" shows that the whole matter is fishy, he claimed. "Every independent organisation in the country is becoming part of the 'Modani family' in trying to cover up their corruption," Gandhi alleged. "This is the 'last ditch attempt' to hide Modi's 'real face' before the elections."

Congress general secretary in-charge (communications) Jairam Ramesh also took on the government over the issue. "Aap chronology samjhiye: first elections, then disclosure of electoral bonds. What makes the ruling party so nervous about revealing the source of its bottomless campaign finance coffers?" he asked in a post on X.

"Remember that the analysis of direct campaign donations and electoral trust donations revealed that 30-plus firms that had been raided by the ED/IT/CBI donated Rs 335 crore to the BJP after the raids. The BJP got the majority (60 plus %) of its campaign funds from electoral bonds. What ill-deeds of the Modi Sarkar will the disclosure of the electoral bonds funds reveal?" Ramesh posed.

In an application filed before the top court, SBI contended that retrieval of information from "each silo" and the procedure of matching the information of one silo to that of the other would be a time-consuming exercise.

The plea submitted that owing to stringent measures undertaken to ensure that the identity of donors was kept anonymous, "decoding" the electoral bonds and matching donors to donations made would be a complex process.

"It is submitted that the data related to the issuance of the bond and the data related to the redemption of the bond was kept recorded in two different silos. No central database was maintained. This was done to ensure that donors' anonymity would be protected.

"It is submitted that donor details were kept in a sealed cover at the designated branches and all such sealed covers were deposited in the main branch of the applicant bank, which is located in Mumbai," the plea said.

In a landmark judgement which many saw as a big blow to the Union government, the Supreme Court on February 15 annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding, saying it violates the Constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information.

In its verdict months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the apex court ordered SBI to disclose to the ECI the names of the contributors to the six-year-old scheme.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud directed that the SBI must disclose details of each electoral bond cashed by political parties. The information should include the date of encashment and the denomination of the bonds and be submitted to the poll panel by 6 March.