The parties got Rs 282 crore through electoral bonds before the Bihar Assembly elections.

- So far the parties have received Rs 6,493 crore

New Delhi Dated 21st November 2020 Saturday

It was a shocking revelation that political parties received Rs 282 crore through electoral bonds between October 19 and 28 this year, before the Bihar Assembly elections. State Bank of India sold 282 crore electoral bonds.

Since the scheme was launched in 2018, political parties have so far received a total of Rs 6,493 crore. Electoral bonds are a scheme in which the amount donated to a political party is never calculated or accounted for.

The details were found in an information sought under RTI by an English newspaper. Between October 19 and 28, State Bank of India sold 279 bonds worth Rs 1 crore and 32 bonds worth Rs 10 lakh each. That is the amount that was given to those political parties.

State Bank of India's Mumbai branch had issued Rs 130 crore in the 14th series of electoral bonds while the bank's Delhi branch had issued only Rs 11.99 crore. Branches in the other three cities sold a total of Rs 237 crore in bonds. Bonds worth Rs 80 lakh were issued in Patna, the capital of Bihar.

Bonds worth Rs 80 crore were issued in Chennai, Rs 90 crore in Hyderabad and Rs 67 crore in Bhubaneswar. Launched in 2018, the scheme was launched to finance political parties. Bonds worth Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1 crore were issued by the State Bank of India. It has to be given to the party within fifteen days after purchase. The scheme was launched to keep the details of who gave which party or candidate how much financial funds private.