The State Bank of India has only itself to blame for the embarrassing situation it finds itself in. The chairman and the managing director of the bank have to file an affidavit before the Supreme Court by tomorrow, stating that it has disclosed all the information regarding the electoral bonds scheme. In other words, the bank should not withhold any information from the Election Commission. If, after filing the affidavit, it is found to have retained any information on grounds of secrecy, it can face summary action under the contempt of court law. Unfortunately, all this and the wastage of the court’s time were unnecessary if the bank was more forthcoming.
When the apex court declared the electoral bond scheme unacceptable, as it violated the principles of probity and transparency, the bank should have understood the court’s determination to clean the Augean stables. Far from appreciating the seriousness of the court, it tried to be too clever by half by suggesting that it would need three months to transfer the details to the EC. In doing so, the bank exposed itself to public opprobrium, for who does not know that in these days of information technology it would have taken only a few hours to transfer all the information? And when the court put its foot firmly down on the dilatory tactics, the bank complied with the order. Because it cleverly hid the unique bond numbers, it became difficult for the common man to establish the link between the bond buyers and the recipient political parties.
Obviously, the bank was under compulsion, as the government did not want the scheme to figure in the elections. That is precisely why it approached the court with complaints that social media users were making merry with the bond details. Even the petition by industry organisations that disclosure amounted to a breach of secrecy promises did not carry conviction. When transparency is the norm, promises of secrecy to ferret out money are unethical and they have no legal legs to stand upon. Let the present process of churning lead to a more robust, transparent, and acceptable system of funding of election campaigns.