Ahead of 5-state polls, electoral bonds on sale

New Delhi: Ahead of assembly elections in five states, the government on Saturday approved the issuance of 29th tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale on November 6.

The decision comes amid campaigning for assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. Elections in these states span from November 7-30. Counting of votes will be done on December 3. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding. "Government of India has authorised State Bank of India (SBI), in the XXIX Phase of sale, to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorised Branches w.e.f. November 6-20, 2023," the finance ministry said in a statement.

The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened in March 2018. Electoral bonds are encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank. SBI is the only authorised bank to issue electoral bonds.

The authorised 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 electoral bonds will be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment will be made to any payee political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. "The electoral bond deposited by an eligible political party in its account shall 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 have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in last Lok Sabha or legislative assembly elections are eligible to receive funding through electoral bonds, it said.