On 10 Mar, the Supreme Court of India warned the State Bank of India (SBI) for its ‘wilful disobedience’ of last month’s order asking the bank to release the data about donors and recipients of electoral bonds by 6 Mar (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 8, Story 7). The court asked the SBI to submit the required data within the close of 12 Mar business hours. SBI filed an application seeking an extension of time till 30 Jun to furnish the information, claiming difficulty in compiling the data. On 7 Mar, Advocate Prashant Bhushan sought an urgent hearing for a contempt petition filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and ‘Common Cause’ against the State Bank of India (SBI) for alleged non-compliance with the Supreme Court's order to disclose details of electoral bonds. ADR and Common Cause's contempt petition challenged SBI's extension request, labeling it as ‘mala fide’ and an attempt to thwart transparency efforts before the upcoming general elections. In a clear-cut warning to SBI, the court said if the timeline was not adhered to, the court could issue contempt. SBI is now to give the details by 12 Mar and Election Commission is to publish the details on its website by 5 pm on 15 Mar. AAP, the party currently in power in Panjab, had made a promise to its electorate to reveal sources of its funding. Since 2015, they have hidden the sources, citing risk to donors. Later in the evening on 12 Mar, SBI handed over the data to the Election Commission.
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