On Friday, the Election Commission will present an application to the Supreme Court seeking revisions to the relevant portion of its March 11 decision in the electoral bonds case.
“Electoral Body Requests Return of Documents Amid Supreme Court Appeal Delay”
The electoral body noted in its filing that the order required copies of the documents it submitted to the supreme court to be kept in sealed envelopes at the Election Commission’s headquarters throughout the proceedings. To ensure that the court’s orders are followed, the EC made it clear that it had not kept any copies of the documents and asked that they be returned.
On the website of the supreme court, the matter is not listed among Friday’s business, though.
On March 12, a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna informed Prashant Bhushan, an NGO representative, that the appeal regarding the CJI’s exclusion from the selection panel would be heard on Friday.
ECI files SC Motion to get Electoral Bonds Case's sealed documents #SC #ElectionCommission #ElectoralBonds #SupremeCourt #PowerCorridors pic.twitter.com/ARg2EDcCy5
— POWER CORRIDORS (@power_corridors) March 15, 2024
“Supreme Court’s Directive on Electoral Bonds and Election Commission’s Compliance”
The top court in the electoral bonds case had ordered the State Bank of India (SBI) to provide the Election Commission with the bond details by March 12 at the latest, during business hours.
“Copies of the statements which were filed by the ECI before this court would be maintained in the office of the ECI,” the top court noted in its March 11 order, according to the poll panel’s new application.
“It is most respectfully submitted herein that in compliance of the orders passed by this court and in order to maintain the confidentiality of the aforesaid information /data, the Election Commission of India forwarded the documents received by it to this court in sealed covers/boxes, without retaining any copies of the same,” the petition stated.
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“Election Commission Seeks Correction from Supreme Court Regarding Document Handling”
“Thus, no copies of the documents/statements filed by the Election Commission of India before this court in the instant case were ever retained by it,” it stated.
In its application, the EC asked the supreme court to correct or amend the relevant section of the March 11 order and to return any documents, data, or information that it had submitted to the court in sealed covers so that the poll panel could follow the court’s instructions.
