The Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) has issued a fervent call demanding transparency in the disclosure of electoral bond details, amid growing concerns over the use of public sector banks for political interests. In a statement, on March 6, the General Secretary of BEFI expressed deep concern over the recent developments surrounding the State Bank of India's (SBI) seeking time to disclose details of electoral bonds.
"Bank Employees Federation of India unequivocally opposes utilisation of banks for political purposes and demands that State Bank of India as a Public Sector Bank should disclose and submit all the details of electoral bonds to Election Commission before the stipulated deadline of March 6 2024 as directed by the Supreme Court since delayed justice is denial of justice. The matter is pending before the apex court and we believe that the Supreme Court will take appropriate decision in this regard," the statement said.
This demand comes against the backdrop of the landmark verdict by the Supreme Court of India on February 15, 2024. In a unanimous judgment, the apex court declared the electoral bond scheme, which granted anonymity to political donors, as unconstitutional and manifestly arbitrary. Additionally, it struck down legal amendments allowing affluent corporations to make limitless political contributions in exchange for favours.
In response to the Supreme Court's directive, SBI was instructed to provide comprehensive details of electoral bond transactions to the Election Commission within three weeks. However, the bank's recent appeal for an extension until June 30, 2024, has raised concerns among stakeholders.
The BEFI statement said, "The Supreme Court directed State Bank of India, sole banker to handle electoral bond through only 29 designated branches, to submit full details of contributions and encashment since April 2019 to Election Commission of India within three weeks before 6th March 2024 and ECI to publish the details submitted by SBI in its website before 13th March 2024."
"The country observed that SBI after 17 days since the judgement, moved an appeal to the Supreme Court on 4th March 2024, just two days before the deadline of 6th March 2024, seeking time up to 30th June 2024 to comply with the direction of the court by which time the ensuing General Elections will be over," it added.
Notably, SBI contended that the three-week timeframe provided since February 15, 2024, is insufficient to compile and verify the extensive data, which involves decoding, compiling, and comparing 44,434 data sets.
Raising concerns over SBI's demand for extension, the federation emphasised the need for greater recruitment in the banking sector and called for an end to the misuse of public funds.
"The reason attributed by India's largest Bank SBl is that some of the data are stored in physical form kept in sealed covers surprised many in the digital era, especially in the banking sector when most of the information are available with the click of a mouse," BEFI said.
"Of late, it is observed that public sector banks and its personnel are utilised for the narrow political interest of the ruling forces, like in the cases of observance of Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra etc."
"We express our strong opposition to such activities when the need of the hour is more recruitment in the banking industry and put a halt to the looting of public money through various means," the BEFI added.
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