Electoral bonds worth ₹676 crore sold during 23rd phase: SBI

On November 7, the government amended the electoral bonds scheme to allow their sale for 15 extra days during the “year of general elections to the Legislative Assembly of States and Union territories with Legislature

NEW DELHI: Electoral bonds worth ₹676.26 crore were sold from November 6 to 15 after the government allowed the sale of bonds for an additional 15 days ahead of state elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the State Bank of India (SBI) said in the right to information response.

HT reported on October 31 that electoral bonds worth ₹545.25 crore were sold between October 1 and 10. (File Photo)

“A total of 954 electoral bonds were sold, of which 666 were worth ₹1 crore, 88 worth ₹10 lakh, 143 worth ₹1 lakh, 27 worth ₹10,000 and 30 worth ₹1,000,” the SBI said in its reply to a request by Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd). HT has reviewed the reply.

On November 7, the government amended the electoral bonds scheme to allow their sale for 15 extra days during the “year of general elections to the Legislative Assembly of States and Union territories with Legislature”. This was in addition to the provision to widen the buying window of electoral bonds by 15 extra days in the year of respective assembly elections.

HT reported on October 31 that electoral bonds worth ₹545.25 crore were sold between October 1 and 10, or in the 22nd phase, and that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received the bulk of the contributions.

The SBI said in its previous reply that a total of 741 electoral bonds were sold during the 22nd phase, 96% of which were of the denomination of ₹1 crore each. Almost 90% of the electoral bonds went to four parties — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, and the Trinamool Congress, it said.

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. The electoral bond scheme, first floated in 2017 and implemented in 2018, has met with criticism for lacking transparency. The critics have argued that since the bonds are sold through a government-owned bank, there is a possibility that the party in power can find out who is funding their political rivals.

Sold four times a year (in January, April, July and October) for 10 days as notified by the government; electoral bonds allow political parties to accept money from donors whose identities are kept anonymous.

SBI is the sole authorised bank to sell and redeem the bonds. Customers of other banks can also purchase the bonds via different payment channels provided to them. However, a political party can only redeem the bond from one of the 29 authorized branches of the bank.

A political party must also have at least 1% vote share in most recent general elections or assembly elections to receive donations via electoral bonds.

A petition seeking a stay on the sale of the bonds is pending before the Supreme Court