E-Paper
10-day sale of 17th tranche of electoral bonds begins today
The opposition parties have criticised electoral bonds, calling the route of funding as "opaque". But both the Supreme Court and the Election Commission okayed their sale ahead of assembly elections in 5 states in April-May.
The sale of the 17th tranche of electoral bonds will open on July 1. The issuance of the bonds for the sale was approved by the government earlier this week. The sale will go on till July 10.
"State Bank of India (SBI), in the XVII phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through its 29 authorised branches with effect from July 1 to July 10, 2021," the finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
It also listed the 29 branches of India's largest public lender: Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Shimla, Srinagar, Dehradun, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Raipur, Mumbai and Lucknow.
The government has only authorised SBI to issue electoral bonds.
What are electoral bonds?
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 electoral bonds can be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India, according to the finance ministry.
According to government rules, 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 a state, will be eligible to receive the electoral bonds.
The previous sales of electoral bonds
The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds took place from March 1-10, 2018. The 16th tranche of bond sale took place from April 1-10, 2021.
These bonds can be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank.
Supreme Court nod
In March this year, the Supreme Court had cleared the sale of the electoral bonds ahead of elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry.
The court told petitioner, NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, that the sale of these bonds have continued “without any impediment” in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
