As per the schedule, the 24th tranche of electoral bonds will go live for sale from today. This time, while the days for sale of these electoral bonds have been finalised, so has been the location. This time, this 24th trance will be available for sale across several branches of the State Bank of India (SBI).
The Finance Ministry has given authority to the SBI to oversee this sale. The electoral bonds will be issued and encashed through 29 branches of SBI from December 5 to 12, 2022. It must be noted that while the country’s largest lender may have many branches, only these 29 have been authorised for the sale of these electoral bonds.
As per media reports, SBI branches in the following cities have been authorised for the sale of electoral bonds – Lucknow, Shimla, Bhopal, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Dehradun, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Patna, Gandhinagar and Raipur. Interestingly, the sale of these electoral bonds also reportedly coincides with the second phase of Gujarat elections.
Electoral Bonds can be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. As per a report in Livemint.com, these bonds were notified in 2018 and have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties. This has also been done in an effort to bring more transparency in political funding.
The last phase of electoral bonds was made available between November 9 and 15, 2022. These bonds are usually valid for 15 days from the date of issuance, as per the report. It adds that no payment would be made to any political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.
