Ahead of assembly elections in five states, the government on Saturday approved the issuance of the 29th tranche of electoral bonds that will be put up for sale on November 6.
The decision comes amid campaigning for assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. The elections in these states last from November 7 to 30. The counting of votes will take place on December 3.
Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political financing.
“The Government of India has authorized the State Bank of India (SBI) in the XXIXth sale phase to issue and redeem electoral bonds through its 29 authorized branches from November 6 to 20, 2023,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds took place in March 2018.
Electoral bonds can only be redeemed by an eligible political party through a bank account with the authorized bank. SBI is the only authorized bank to issue electoral bonds.
The authorized SBI branches include those in Bengaluru, Lucknow, Shimla, Dehradun, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Raipur and Mumbai.
The Finance Ministry further said that electoral bonds will be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issuance and no payment will be made to any political party that is the beneficiary if the bond is deposited after the expiry of the validity period.
“Election bond deposited into its account by an eligible political party will be credited on the same day,” it added.
Electoral bonds can be purchased by Indian citizens or entities incorporated or established in the country.
Registered political parties that secured not less than 1 percent of the votes in the last Lok Sabha or Assembly elections are eligible for funding through electoral bonds, the report said.
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