Despite the Supreme Court’s reprimand with respect to detailed information about electoral bonds, the attitude of State Bank of India’s management has not changed. The information that was uploaded on the Election Commission’s website was given to the Election office by SBI, but the alpha numeric numbers of the electoral bonds were missed purposely. If these numbers had been given, it would have been clear which companies paid how many crores to each party, which is also the right of citizens. However, from the information published by the Election Commission on its website, only the amount received by political parties, and the companies that have purchased the highest amount of electoral bonds is known.
The Supreme Court on Friday rebuked the SBI and ordered the bank to disclose the hidden information by March 17 to the Election Commission. SBI had earlier asked for extension of time till June 30 for collecting and providing the information on electoral bonds, but provided the data within 24 hours of SC’s scolding. This means that the SBI already had the data. Then why did the bank ask for an extension till June 30? The intent is clear. And the manner in which this information was concealed and given to the Election Commission has made it even more clear.
Legal experts believe that hiding the unique numbers of electoral bonds is an infringement on the constitutional rights of citizens. For now, SBI is expected to give the remaining details after the Supreme Court reprimanded it once again. Though the SC has not asked under whose pressure the SBI concealed important information, the general public, however, wants the answer. Because, the BJP has received a whooping 60 billion through electoral bonds in the last five years. Mamata Banerjee’s TMC and Rahul Gandhi’s Congress are in second and third place, respectively. But, the amount received by TMC and Congress is much lesser than that received by the BJP. Both the parties have received 16 and 14 billion, respectively. Now the question arises that, out of the 60 billion received by BJP, who has donated the sum?
The Supreme Court on Friday said there is no direct link in the information published on the Election Commission’s website and directed the SBI to submit the information by March 17. The bank will do so when it submits the new information on Sunday. But one thing is clear from the information that has been published now is that there are not one but three or four big companies who have purchased electoral bonds worth crores of rupees. The biggest of the lot is Future Gaming & Hotels Pvt Ltd. The company runs a lottery business across the country. The company purchased bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore between October 2020 and January 2024. Santiago Martins is the owner of the company. He lives in Chennai. The ED had raided the company’s office at Coimbatore and Martin’s residence in Chennai last year around May 11-12. The ED had attached unaccounted assets worth Rs 457 crore of the company during the raid. The company purchased bonds worth Rs 195 crore in October 2021, Rs 210 crore twice in January 2023, and Rs 63 crore in 2024. Martin, according to his company’s website, has often been named the nation’s top taxpayer. The man, who was a worker in Myanmar, came to India and started a lottery business in 1988. Any citizen would ask which party has received millions from this lottery king, who became a billionaire in a short period of time. The Supreme Court has raised the same question and asked the SBI to respond to this.
The information published by the Election Commission has raised many questions and controversies. For example, the second largest of these companies that bought the most electoral bonds was Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited. The company has purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 966 crore. Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan in a tweet asked this question: “To whom were electoral bonds worth Rs 100 crore issued on April 11, 2023”. Meanwhile, the company has received contracts worth Rs 14,400 crore from the BJP’s Maharashtra government in a single month. SBI is hiding the bond numbers in this information. However, if you look at the transaction between some donors and some parties, it can be inferred that these donations fall into the category of ‘give with one hand and take with the other’. An X user (formerly Twitter) shared a video of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in Parliament in his tweet. In it, he is seen praising Megha Engineering. So, it is clear that these companies may have given maximum funds to the ruling BJP. But authentic information will be known when the Election Commission officially publishes it. Vedanta is the fifth company to buy bonds worth Rs 376 crore. Last year, political parties earned thousands of crores of such money.
The government had claimed that the scheme is being implemented to curb use of black money during elections. But the SC has labelled the scheme as unconstitutional and given a jolt to the government. The intensity of the jolt will be known only after the SBI releases further details of the controversial bonds.
