The government on September 29 announced the 28th tranche of electoral bond sales to be undertaken over a ten-day window starting October 4 and closing on October 13, at all authorised branches of the State Bank of India.
While the move comes ahead of upcoming assembly elections in a few States, a ten-day sale window in October is part of the stated schedule for such bonds’ sales since the bonds were introduced in January 2018 as a means “to cleanse the system of political funding in the country”.
As per the original scheme, the bonds are made available for 10 days each in January, April, July and October, on dates specified by the central government, and an additional 30-day period in the year of the Lok Sabha elections.
In November 2022, the government had amended the scheme to grant itself the power to declare an extra fortnight of electoral bond sales in years when States and Union Territories with a legislature have polls. That window was used to issue electoral bonds ahead of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections.
Individuals can buy electoral bonds on their own or along with others, and remit them to registered political parties with at least one percent vote share in the Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha elections. The bonds are valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issuance.
