New Delhi: Ahead of assembly elections in five states, the Centre has allowed the State Bank of India (SBI), in the XXIX Phase of sale, to issue and encash electoral bonds through its 29 authorised branches, including Bhubaneswar Main Branch, from November 6 to November 20.
“The electoral bonds shall be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee political party if the electoral bonds are 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,” a notification issued by the Finance Ministry said on Saturday.
The electoral bonds will be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank, it added.
Introduced in 2017, electoral bonds are interest-free bearer bonds and an individual, company, or firm can purchase these from SBI branches after giving the basic KYC details.
Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding. Registered political parties that have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in last Lok Sabha or legislative assembly elections are eligible to receive funding through electoral bonds.
