1 An application has been filed by the Election Commission of India1 seeking further
directions.
Sanjay Kumar 1“ECI”
2 In the order of this Court dated 11 March 2024, this Court had directed that ECI shall
upload on its website the data furnished to this Court in compliance with the interim
order dated 12 April 2019 which was being maintained in the custody of this Court.
While issuing this direction, the Court has presumed that a copy of the data which
was lodged before the Registry of this Court would be available with the ECI.
3 Mr Amit Sharma, counsel appearing on behalf of the ECI states that, as a matter of
fact, ECI did not retain a copy of the data which was collated by it since it was being
placed before this Court in sealed custody.
4 The request, therefore, of the ECI is that the data which was filed before this Court be
returned to it to enable it to comply with the order of this Court for uploading all the
documents. This request of the ECI has not been opposed by Mr Kapil Sibal and Mr
Vijay Hansaria, senior counsel and Mr Prashant Bhushan, counsel for the petitioners.
5 We accordingly issue the following directions:
(i) The Registrar (Judicial) of this Court shall ensure that the data which has
been filed by ECI in pursuance of the interim orders of this Court is scanned
and digitized. This may be carried out preferably by 5 pm tomorrow (16
March 2024);
(ii) Once the above exercise is completed, the originals shall be returned to
Mr Amit Sharma, counsel appearing on behalf of ECI;
(iii) ECI shall then upload the data on its website on or before 5 pm on 17
March 2024; and
(iv) A copy of the scanned and digitized files shall also be made available to
Mr Amit Sharma to obviate the replication of the process of digitization.
6 The Miscellaneous Application is accordingly disposed of.
7 The judgment of the Constitution Bench in Association for Democratic Reforms vs
Union of India2 required the State Bank of India3 to furnish to the ECI all details of the
Electoral Bonds purchased, and, as the case may, redeemed by political parties,
including the date of purchase/redemption, name of the purchaser and the
denomination of the Electoral Bond purchased. It has been submitted that SBI has not
disclosed the alpha-numeric numbers of the Electoral Bonds.
8 The Solicitor General of India submits that since he is not appearing for SBI, notice may
be issued to it.
9 We direct the Registry to issue notice to SBI, returnable on 18 March 2024. Additionally,
we also direct the presence of a Senior Officer of SBI who is responsible for the
management and storage of details of Bonds purchased and redeemed on the next
date of hearing.
2 Writ Petition (Civil) No 880 of 2017
3 “SBI”
10 A copy of this order shall be served by the Registrar (Judicial) on Mr Sanjay Kapur,
Standing Counsel for SBI.
[Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud]
[Sanjiv Khanna]
[B R Gavai]
[J B Pardiwala]
[Manoj Misra]
New Delhi; March 15, 2024 CKB