As part of the nationwide agitations held at State Bank of India (SBI) branches, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded the immediate disclosure of information on electoral bonds as ordered by the Supreme Court, at protests organised at the SBI Main Branch at Old Jail Road junction and the SBI branch at Arilova, here on Monday.
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At the SBI Main Branch protest, CPI(M) district committee secretary M. Jaggunaidu flayed the bank for failing to comply with the directions laid by the Supreme Court. He said that the Supreme Court, on February 15, directed SBI to submit details of those who had purchased electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by March 6, so that the ECI could make them public by March 13. He criticised the bank for seeking time till June, on the plea that it would not be able to furnish the information in 21 days.
Mr. Jaggunaidu alleged that SBI does not wish to disclose the information ahead of the Lok Sabha elections as the bank is afraid of the Union government. “The bank, which handles 48 crore accounts daily, seeking 116 days to disclose the details on 22,000 bonds is ridiculous. The data on the bond-holders must be digitised from time to time and the Modi government talks big of digital India,” he added.
He further highlighted that out of the ₹8,970 crore raised through the 22,000 electoral bonds, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) received the highest sum of ₹6,566 crore. He appealed to the Supreme Court to take the electoral bonds case suo moto, while also alleging that the ‘corrupt’ transfer of public sector assets to corporate groups was earning the ruling party crores of rupees. He stressed that the CPI(M) would continue its protest until the practice of ‘electoral bonds’ was shelved.
CPI(M) leaders R.K.S.V. Kumar, P. Mani, M. Subba Rao, M.S.N. Raju, K. Kumari, Chandramouli, Chalapathi, Ganesh, Narasinga Rao, Ramana and Appa Rao were among those who participated in the protest.