SBI To Issue 16th Tranche of Electoral Bonds From April 1-10

The government approved the issuance of the 16th tranche of electoral bonds on Tuesday, amid assembly elections in four states and a Union territory. The bonds will be available for purchase from April 1 to 10. To bring accountability to political financing, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government launched the Electoral Bond System in 2018 as an alternative to cash donations to political parties.

It should be noted that Electoral Bonds are only valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue, and if the Electoral Bond is deposited after the validity period has expired, no payment will be made to the payee Political Party. A qualified Political Party's Electoral Bond must be credited on the same day it is deposited in its account.

Electoral Bond is a bearer Banking Instrument to be used for funding eligible Political Parties. An eligible Political Party is the one registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and 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.

The goals of issuing electoral bonds are as follows: To find out how much money a political party got during elections, To eliminate or substantially minimise the use of anonymous funding for political parties.

Electoral Bonds in the denominations of Rs1000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1,00,000, Rs 10,00,000, and Rs 1,00,00,000 will be issued. The first batch of electoral bonds was sold from March 1 to 10, 2018. From January 1 to January 10, 2021, the 15th tranche of bonds was sold.

The State Bank of India (SBI), in the XVI Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorized Branches from 01.04.2021 to 10.04.2021, the release said.

The 29 mentioned SBI branches are in cities such as Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Shimla, Srinagar, Dehradun, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Raipur, Mumbai, and Lucknow.

Last week, the Supreme Court declined to halt the selling of these bonds in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry during the Assembly elections.

Only Political Parties that have been registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and have received at least 1% of the votes cast in the most recent General Election to the House of People or the State Legislative Assembly are entitled to collect Electoral Bonds.