A little more than 900 electoral bonds have been issued since the launch of the scheme earlier this year, amounting to just about ₹440 crore.

According to data from the Finance Ministry, given in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request by BusinessLine , a total of 905 electoral bonds have been issued for a cumulative value of ₹438.3 crore across all the three tranches.

Interestingly, the issuance and subscription of the bonds have declined over time.

While a total of 445 bonds amounting to ₹222 crore were issued in the first tranche in March this year, it came down to 256 bonds and ₹115 crore in the second tranche and even further to 204 bonds of ₹101.40 crore in the third tranche. ( See table ).

“Three tranches of electoral bonds have been issued till May 31, 2018. Electoral bonds would be issued or purchased for any value in multiples of ₹1,000, ₹10,000, ₹1 lakh, ₹10 lakh and ₹1 crore,” the Finance Ministry said, adding that it does not maintain data on the number of bonds purchased in each denomination.

At present, electoral bonds can be purchased from 11 branches of State Bank of India across 18 States, it further said.

Finance Minister Arun Jailtey, in Budget 2017-18, had announced the plan for electoral bonds in an attempt to make political funding transparent.

Simultaneously, he had proposed that political parties be allowed to receive not more than ₹2,000 in cash from one person.

The electoral bonds proposal raised several eyebrows. It was debated that the plan may actually add to the opaqueness of political funding.

However, the scheme was finally notified in January.

Open for all

The bonds are open for purchase by all citizens of India. Only registered political parties that have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the latest general election to the Lok Sabha or a State Assembly are eligible to receive them.

The bonds have to be deposited within 15 days of issue in the authorised bank branch of the party; it can be encashed only through the same account.

The Centre had initially said the scheme would be available for purchase for 10 days each in January, April, July and October, or as may be specified by it through notifications.

An additional period of 30 days shall be specified by the Centre in a Lok Sabha election year.

Published on June 25, 2018