18 March 2024 3:23 AM GMT
A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will hear the Electoral Bonds Case today at 10.30 AM.
The bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra will decide whether the State Bank of India should be directed to disclose the unique numbers of the Electoral Bonds. Last Friday, the bench had taken exception to the SBI disclosing the electoral bond details without revealing the unique alphanumeric numbers, without which it is difficult to match the donors with the political parties. Observing that the SBI had to disclose the unique numbers as per the February 15 judgment, the bench issued notice to the Bank and posted the matter today.
In another development, the Election Commission of India yesterday uploaded on its website the details of donations received by political parties. These details were submitted before the Supreme Court pursuant to the interim orders passed on April 12, 2019 and November 2, 2023. On March 11, the Court directed the ECI to publish these details as well.
In a related development, an application has been filed by "Citizens Rights Trust" seeking to direct the SBI and the ECI to disclose the details of electoral bonds worth Rs 4000 crores sold between March 1, 2018 and April 12, 2019.
Follow this page for live updates from today's hearing.