The Supreme Court on Monday directed the State Bank of India to disclose electoral bonds data, such as the donors’ and recipients’ identities, to the Election Commission by Tuesday evening, rejecting its plea for a deadline extension in a ruling heavy with political significance.

Accepting the SBI plea to defer the deadline to June 30 would have pushed the revelations about the anonymous donations — which have sparked allegations of quid pro quo with the government — till after the general election.

The five-judge constitution bench has asked the poll panel to display the information, supplied by the SBI, on its official website by Friday evening.

It said the SBI must disclose the data by the “close of business hours” on Tuesday — which means by 5pm — failing which the bank would face contempt proceedings.

The bench had on February 15 quashed the electoral bond scheme of 2018, which allowed anonymous donations to political parties, saying it was unconstitutional and facilitated quid pro quo with ruling parties.

It asked the SBI — issuer and redeemer of the bonds — to disclose to the Election Commission by March 6 the names of all the buyers of the bonds with the denominations and dates. The poll panel was to make the information public by March 13.

However, the SBI on March 4 requested the court to extend the deadline to June 30, citing practical difficulties. The BJP is said to have received the lion’s share of donations under the scheme.

On Monday, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud pulled up the SBI for failing to reveal what it had done since the February 15 directive to comply with it.

“You are the State Bank of India, a public-sector bank. There should be some candour from your side. We want to know what you have been doing for the past 26 days. There is not a word about it in your application,” Justice Chandrachud remarked.

The bench — which included Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra — brushed aside the argument from senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the SBI, that the bank wanted to proceed cautiously lest the disclosures contain any “mistakes”.

“There is no question of any mistake. You have the KYC. You are the Number 1 bank in the country. We expect you to handle it,” Justice Khanna told Salve.

“You comply with what is in black and white in the (February 15) judgment,” Justice Gavai told Salve towards the end of the hearing.

The bench was also annoyed that a relatively junior officer — an assistant general manager — had filed the bank’s affidavit before the apex court.

Salve replied that this officer was the person dealing with the issue.

The court then directed the SBI to “disclose the details by the close of business hours of 12 March 2024” and said the Election Commission must publish the information on its website by 5pm on March 15.

“The SBI shall file an affidavit of its chairman and managing director on compliance with the directions issued above,” the court said. “While we are not inclined to exercise the contempt jurisdiction at this time, we put SBI on notice that this court may be inclined to proceed against it for wilful disobedience if SBI does not comply with the directions by the timelines indicated in this order.”

Two NGOs — the Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause — and the CPM filed contempt applications last week against the SBI for failing to comply with the March 6 deadline.