The government has paid Rs 4.1 crore to the State Bank of India (SBI) as a commission for the selling of election bonds to political party donors over 13 stages. This is in addition to the Rs 1.86 crore spent on bond printing. According to the SBI, the total commission owed by the government to the bank for the 15 stages of bond sales is Rs 4.3 crore. While Rs 4.10 crore has been paid, the commission for the 14th and 15th phases is yet to be paid.
According to the SBI, the government has paid no commission for the printing of the bonds, but printing charges totalling Rs 1, 86, 05,720, inclusive of GST, have been paid to date. Since the scheme’s inception in 2018, a total of 6, 64,250 election bonds have been printed, according to the bank. The total amount donated via election bonds has surpassed Rs 6,535 crore.
From 1st to 10th January 2021, the SBI issued election bonds worth Rs 42.1 crore in the 15th phase of the sale. It issued bonds worth Rs 282 crore in October, ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections. Donors, mostly corporates and industrialists, contributed Rs 1,056.7 crore in 2018, Rs 5,071.9 crore in 2019, and Rs 363.9 crore in 2020. On March 19th, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition on March 24 requesting a directive to the Central Government and others not to open any further window for the sale of election bonds while a PIL lodged by an NGO relating to political party funds and alleged lack of transparency is pending.
The Association for Democratic Reforms, a non-governmental organisation, claimed that any additional bond sales before the upcoming Assembly elections, including in West Bengal, Kerala, and Assam, would “increase illegal funding of political parties through shell companies.” The SBI offers bonds in amounts of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 1 million.
Political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, that received at least 1% of the votes cast in the most recent general election to an Assembly or Parliament are permitted to open current accounts for the redemption of electoral bonds. According to SBI operating guidelines, the information of the customer shall be treated privately by depository the financial organization of India and it’s not disclosed to any authority for any purpose, except when demanded by a competent court or upon registration of a criminal case by any enforcement agency.
