Electoral Bonds:
The State Bank of India (SBI) shared data reporting that Donations to political parties through electoral bonds (EBs) have crossed the Rs 10,000-crore mark.
- In the 21st sale of EBs conducted in July 2022, parties received another Rs 389.5 crore from EB purchases.
- The total amount collected by parties has gone up to Rs 10,246 crore since 2018 when the EB scheme was introduced.
Electoral Bonds:
- State Bank of India is authorised to issue and encash these bonds.
- Electoral bonds are purchased anonymously by donors and are valid for 15 days from the date of issue.
- As debt instruments, these can be bought by donors from a bank, and the political party can then encash them.
- These can be redeemed only by an eligible party by depositing the same in its designated account maintained with a bank.
- The bonds are issued by SBI in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.
- The bonds are available for purchase by any citizen of India for a period of ten days each in the months of January, April, July and October as may be specified by the Central Government.
Eligibility:
- Only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and have secured not less than 1% of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly, are eligible to receive electoral bonds.
