Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court’s rejection of the State Bank of India (SBI)’s plea for more time to make public names of those who donated to political parties through electoral bonds, calling it a victory for transparency, accountability, and level playing field in democracy.
SBI filed the plea on March 4 seeking time until June 30 to compile and match the information involving 22,217 donations. The court, which asked SBI to share names of the donors, the beneficiaries, and the amounts with the Election Commission of India by March 6, on February 15 scrapped the electoral bond funding system calling it “unconstitutional. The system allowed anonymous donations to political parties.
Kharge cited SBI’s plea to provide the details four and a half months later and said it became clear the government was making every possible effort to cover up. “With today’s decision of the Honourable Supreme Court, the country will soon know the list of those who donated to [ruling] BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] through electoral bonds,” he wrote on X.
He called the court’s verdict on Monday the first step in exposing the corruption and scams. Kharge said the country will still not know for which contracts the BJP was giving donations. He said the court should give appropriate instructions in this regard. He cited media reports and said the BJP used federal agencies to get donations.
{{/usCountry}}He called the court’s verdict on Monday the first step in exposing the corruption and scams. Kharge said the country will still not know for which contracts the BJP was giving donations. He said the court should give appropriate instructions in this regard. He cited media reports and said the BJP used federal agencies to get donations.
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