Branches of this bank to issue electoral bonds from 9-15 November

The Finance Ministry has said that the 29 branches of State Bank of India (SBI) has been authorized to issue and encash electoral bonds.

These bonds can be authorised from 9-15 November. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding.

"The State Bank of India (SBI), in the XXIII Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 authorized branches (as per list enclosed) w.e.f. 09.11.2022 to 15.11.2022," the Finance Ministry said in its statement.

The Finance Ministry said the electoral bonds shall be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee political party if the electoral bond is deposited after the expiry of the validity period. The electoral bond deposited by an eligible political party in its account shall be credited on the same day.

The authorised SBI branches include those in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Shimla, Srinagar, Dehradun, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Mumbai, North Goa, Lucknow, Khurda, Patna, Ranchi, Gangtok, Itanagar, Kohima, Guwahati, Imphal, Shillong, Aizawl, Agartala, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram, the release said.

The government notified the Electoral Bond Scheme in 2018. As per provisions, electoral bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India.

The statement also said a person being an individual could buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.

"Only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the people or the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive the electoral bonds," it added.

Usually, electoral bond tranches are open for sale between 1-10 of a designated month. For instance, the 22nd tranche of bond sales took place from October 1-10, 2022 while 21st tranche was from July 1-10, 2022.

Sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened from March 1-10, 2018. SBI is the only authorised bank to issue electoral bonds.

(With inputs from agencies)