Centre has approved the sale and issuance of electoral bonds through 29 SBI branches from December 5 to 12. Ministry of Finance in a press release on Saturday said, "State Bank of India (SBI), in the 24th phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 authorized branches from 5th to 12th December."
As per provisions of the Scheme, Electoral Bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India.
A person being an individual can buy Electoral Bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals. 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 the State, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds. The Electoral Bonds shall be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorized Bank.
"The Electoral Bonds shall be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. The Electoral Bond deposited by an eligible Political Party in its account shall be credited on the same day," the Ministry of Finance said.
This is the third successive month that electoral bond sales have been opened up. As per the original scheme, there was a ten-day sale in October and then a week of sale from November 9 ahead of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections under the amended norms.
The Electoral Bond scheme was introduced in January 2018 as an alternative to cash donations "to cleanse the system of political funding in the country."