New Delhi: The government on Monday said nearly 7995 crore rupees electoral bonds have sold till 30th of last month in 18 phases since its launch on 2nd January 2018. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the State Bank of India has been authorized to issue and encash the electoral bonds under the Electoral Bank Scheme, 2018. He said around 7975 crore rupees electoral bonds have been redeemed so far.
The Minister said the Electoral Bond Scheme is, in fact, an unprecedented step towards cleansing the process of funding political parties and a major improvement over conventional practice of funding the political system through donations in cash. Mr. Chaudhary said the purchaser is allowed to buy electoral bonds only on due fulfillment of all the extant instructions regarding KYC norms issued by RBI and by making payment from a bank account.
