Electoral bonds: Sixth phase of sale to take place between November 1-10, says FinMin

Express Explained | Electoral Bonds: How they’ll work, how ‘transparent’ they’ll really be

“State Bank of India (SBI), in the 6th phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through its 29 authorised branches with effect from November 1 to 10,” the ministry said in a statement.

The 29 specified SBI branches are in cities like New Delhi, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Mumbai, Jaipur, Lucknow, Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati.

The government notified the Electoral Bond Scheme in January this year. State Bank of India is the only authorised bank to issue and encash these bonds under the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018 which kicked in from January 2, 2018. These bonds have a life of 15 days from the date of issue and no payment is made to any payee political party depositing them after expiry of the validity period.

Eligible political parties are allowed to encash electoral bonds only through their bank accounts. Only political parties registered under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the last election of the Lok Sabha or legislative assembly of the state, are eligible to receive electoral bonds. A person being a citizen of India or an entity incorporated/ established in India can purchase electoral bonds. A person being an individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.

The sale of first batch of electoral bonds took place from March 1-10, 2018. The second phase was launched from April 2-10. The third phase took place during May 1-10, fourth tranche was launched from July 2-11 and fifth was between October 1 and October 10.