The sale of Electoral Bonds began today (Tuesday). It will be sold through 29 authorised branches of SBI till the 11th of January. The authorised SBI branches include Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and West Bengal. Ministry of Finance in a statement said that in the 30th phase of sale of the bonds, SBI has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds.
The Ministry said that the Bonds will be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment will be made to any payee political party if the Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. The Bond deposited by the eligible Political Party in its account will be credited on the same day. The Bonds can be purchased by Indian citizens. Only the registered political parties, which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election or the legislative assembly of the State, will be eligible to receive the electoral bonds.
