Electoral bonds

• As per ECI, 5 big metro cities –Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, New Delhi, and Chennai in descending order accounted for nearly 90% of all EBs sold so far.

About Electoral Bonds

• EBs are interest-free bearer instruments to cleanse the system of political funding in the country.
• These were introduced in 2017-18
• Objective
  • limit use of cash in political funding,
  • Eliminate fraudulent political parties,
  • Protecting donor from political victimization, curb black money etc.
• EBs can be purchased by a citizen of India or entities incorporated or established in India.
• EBs are valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.
• EBs are sold in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 1 crore.
• State Bank of India is the only bank authorised to sell them.
• Registered political parties that secured at least one percent of votes polled in the most recent General or Assembly elections are eligible.
• Buyers of bonds submit full KYC details at the time of buying.
• But beneficiary political party is not required to reveal the identity of the entity that has given it the bond(s).