A watchdog group of retired civil servants has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to use its constitutional powers to compel the State Bank of India to reveal the information on electoral bonds that the apex court has asked it to.

The SBI recently requested the court to extend its deadline to share the data — on the identities of the donors, amounts and dates — with the poll panel from March 6 to June 30, citing practical difficulties. By June 30, the general election would be expected to be over.

The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) of former bureaucrats has demanded that the commission not announce the Lok Sabha polls until the SBI shares the data.

In its open letter to the commission, the CCG said: “Thomas Franco, former General Secretary of the All India Banking Officers Confederation, has pointed out that SBI had asked the Government of India by a letter of June 2018 for a sum of more than Rs 60 lakhs for development of IT systems for the electoral bond scheme....

“Subhash Chandra Garg, Finance Secretary at the time of finalisation of the scheme (and a defender of it), has said in interviews that it should not take more than ten minutes to get the information sought. He also makes the important point that the SCI (Supreme Court of India) has not asked for details linking the purchase of bonds with the political parties to whom they have been given; so, the demand for time is wholly unjustified.”

The group has added: “The SBI’s denying this information and indicating that it would not be available before the general elections seems to indicate that the SBI is shielding the Government in power from any criticism that there was a quid pro quo between the bonds and favours given to some firms or raids/ intimidation to pressurise the corporates to fall in line.”

“The ECI should also make it clear that it will not announce the schedule for the 2024 general elections till the SBI furnishes this information,” they said.