Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections in May, electoral bonds for funding political parties were opened for sale Monday (April 3) for a 10-day window till April 12 at 29 authorised branches of State Bank of India (SBI).
The Union finance ministry on March 31 announced the 26th tranche of electoral bonds under the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018. As per the scheme, any Indian citizen or corporate can buy the bonds to contribute to a political party that has opened its dedicated electoral bond account with SBI. The bonds will be valid for 15 calendar days from the day of issue.
The Election Commission of India announced the schedule of the Karnataka polls on March 29 — Polling on May 10 and counting of votes on May 13.
In the previous round of sales, SBI had sold electoral bonds worth Rs 308.76 crore in the 25th tranche in January, just before the Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland Assembly elections in February, as per a Right to Information reply to The Indian Express.
So far, from the start of the scheme in 2018 till the most recent tranche, SBI has sold Rs 12,008.59 crore in electoral bonds, of which political parties have redeemed Rs 11,984.91 crore.
Electoral bonds are sold for four 10-day periods in January, April, July and October each year, as well as an additional window of up to 30 days in a year of Lok Sabha elections. In November 2022, the finance ministry amended the scheme to add a 15-day sale window in a year of any Assembly election.
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
