The SBI must by Thursday evening cough up all the data it has on the electoral bonds, the Supreme Court said on Monday, paving the way for the public to learn which donor gave to which party and how much.

The data, which is to include the “alphanumeric and serial numbers of the Electoral Bonds which were purchased and redeemed” after April 12, 2019, should be disclosed to the Election Commission by 5pm on March 21, the court said.

The poll panel must then display all the information “forthwith” on its website.

The five-judge bench expressed anger at the SBI’s perceived reluctance to reveal all the details, orally observing: “We bank on the fact that the bank will be candid…. We take it that you are not arguing a case for a political party.”

It directed the SBI chairperson to file a compliance affidavit saying “no details had been withheld from disclosure”.

The court passed the direction while declining to entertain pleas from certain NGOs for disclosure of the identities of the donors and recipients of the Rs 4,000 crore worth of electoral bonds purchased between March 1, 2018, and April 12, 2019.

On February 15, the bench had scrapped the electoral bonds scheme, which allowed anonymous donations to political parties, as unconstitutional. It had asked the SBI — sole issuer of the bonds — to reveal all the details of the bonds to the poll panel for public disclosure.

Last week, the court expressed annoyance at the SBI’s failure to reveal the bonds’ alphanumeric details, without which it cannot be ascertained which donor gave to which party or parties.

On Monday, while asking the SBI to disclose the bond numbers, the bench rejected pleas from industry chambers Ficci and Assocham that said the order to reveal bond numbers would be a breach of the “confidentiality” clause.

The petitioners had also underlined that the court had not, before passing the February 15 judgment, heard the corporate houses that had purchased the bonds.

Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud told senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the SBI, that the February 15 judgment had clearly asked the bank to reveal all the details, including the bond numbers, but it had not complied.

“(The) SBI’s attitude seems to be, ‘You tell us what to disclose, we will disclose’, that does not seem to be fair,” the bench observed.

“(The) SBI can’t be selective in disclosing all details. Don’t wait for the orders of this court. We bank on the fact that the bank will be candid. When we say ‘all details’, it includes all conceivable data.

“We want all information related to the electoral bonds to be disclosed which is in your possession. We take it that you are not arguing a case for a political party.”

Salve said the SBI would disclose all the details.

The bench included Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice D.Y. Chandrachud during a hearing on the electoral bonds case, in New Delhi, Monday, March 18, 2024. PTI picture