Achi news desk-
Information received under RTI shows that on February 28, the Finance Ministry asked the State Bank of India to ‘immediately stop printing bonds’, a week after the Supreme Court stayed the scheme electoral bond on February 15. It was
(Photo: The Wire)
New Delhi: Three days before the Supreme Court declared electoral bonds unconstitutional, the Finance Ministry had given final approval to the printing of 10,000 Rs 1 crore electoral bonds by SPMCIL (Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India).
The Indian Express reported in its report that on February 28, a week after the Supreme Court’s order, the State Bank of India (SBI) was asked by the Finance Ministry to ‘stop printing bonds with immediate effect’.
This was revealed in the file which shows correspondence and e-mail exchanges between the Ministry of Finance and SBI obtained by the newspaper under RTI.
He also revealed that SPMCIL has already printed 8350 bonds and sent them to SBI.
A total of 22217 Electoral Bonds have been exchanged since the start of the scheme. BJP Rs 8451 crore; Congress Rs 1950 crore; Trinamool Congress exchanged electoral bonds of Rs 1707.81 crore and BRS Rs 1407.30 crore.
The instructions to stop printing were sent by SBI to SPMCIL on February 28 in a series of mails titled ‘Stop Printing of Electoral Bonds – Electoral Bond Scheme 2018’.
Assistant General Manager Transaction Banking Department of SBI wrote: ‘We have received 4 boxes (boxes) of security forms of a total of 8350 Electoral Bonds in the email dated 23.02.2024… In the light of the decision of the Supreme Court we request you â– 1650 remaining from a request for a stay on the printing of an Electoral Bond, for which approval was given apart from the Budget Division’s letter dated 12.01.2024.’
An e-mail dated February 27 on record states that the ‘Government of India’ approved on February 12 to order the printing of 400 booklets and 10,000 electoral bonds and to SPMCIL.
On the same day, another mail from the Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance was sent to the SBI and others in the Ministry, saying, ‘State Bank of India is requested to please stop printing the remaining 1650 Electoral Bonds . Inform SPMCIL immediately, for which approval has been given.’
