New Delhi:
Political parties seized electoral bonds worth Rs 324.36 crore in 2020-21, the government informed parliament on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Pankaj Chaudhary provided this information in a written response to a question in Rajya Sabha, adding that State Bank of India (SBI) is the authorized bank for issuing and collecting election bonds.
The minister further said in his response that partisan details of the collection of electoral bonds are not collected centrally from SBI.
During 2020-21, the 14th and 15th tranches of election bonds were issued and cashed.
Mr Chaudhary further said that electoral bonds worth Rs 1,212.86 crore were packed by political parties in the 19th tranche of electoral bonds.
According to the guidelines, the bond under this scheme can be bought by a person who is a citizen of India or incorporated or domiciled in India, and a person who is an individual can buy bonds, alone or together with other individuals.
Accordingly, no electoral bonds will be issued to foreign entities, he said.