The finance ministry will on December 5 open a week-long window for the sale of electoral bonds through 29 branches of State Bank of India (SBI), which can sell and encash the instruments till December 12.
Notified in 2018 as a way of political funding, the Electoral Bond Scheme is an alternative to cash donations that allows donors to fund campaigns of parties of their choice through the purchase of bonds.
These bonds can be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. This is the 24th tranche of bonds to go on sale.
“State Bank of India (SBI), in the XXIV Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorized Branches (as per list enclosed) w.e.f. 05.12.2022 to 12.12.2022,” the finance ministry said in a statement on December 3.
New Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Shimla, Dehradun, Kolkata, Chennai, Patna, Guwahati, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Bhopal and Raipur are some the cities where SBI branches have been authorised to sell electoral bonds.
This is the third successive month that poll bonds are being sold. The 23rd tranche opened for subscription from November 9 to 15 and in October, these were available for sale from the first of the month to the tenth.
The bonds will be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee political party if these are deposited after the expiry of the validity period, the ministry said.
The bond deposited by an eligible political party in its account shall be credited on the same day, the statement added. The bonds shall be encashed only through a bank account with the authorised bank.
The bonds go on sale a day ahead before the Supreme Court is to take up challenges to the scheme, which petitioners have described as opaque and claim it hampers free and fair elections.
The petitioners also want the Chief Justice of India to set up a bigger constitutional bench to hear the matter.
The government has said the bonds are transparent as the whole process of money transfer can be tracked and there is no way that black money can be routed through this scheme.
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