Printing of 10k Rs 1 Cr Electoral Bonds
The Finance Ministry authorized the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL) to manufacture 10,000 bonds worth a combined Rs 1 crore, just three days before the Supreme Court ruled that electoral bonds were unlawful (The Indian Express).
Two weeks following the Supreme Court’s decision, on February 28, the Finance Ministry issued a directive stopping the printing process, which prompted the State Bank of India (SBI) to promptly halt the procedure. File notes and emails between the Finance Ministry and SBI that were obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act provided details about these incidents. These records show that SPMCIL has already manufactured and sent 8,350 bonds to SBI.
The instruction to halt printing was conveyed in an email titled ‘Hold on Printing of Electoral Bonds — Electoral Bond Scheme 2018’ dated February 28, sent from SBI to SPMCIL.
Additionally, the Assistant General Manager of SBI’s Transaction Banking Department acknowledged the receipt of four boxes containing a total of 8,350 bonds in an email dated February 23, 2024. The email noted, “As per the judgment given by the Honourable Supreme Court, we request you to halt the printing of the remaining 1,650 Electoral Bonds for which approval had been granted via Budget Division Letter dated 12.01.2024.
On February 27, a written memo detailed the approval for printing 400 booklets and 10,000 Election Bonds by the “Government of India”, as stated. Simultaneously, the Budget division of the Finance Ministry directed SBI and other pertinent Ministry entities via email to halt the printing of the remaining 1,650 Election Bonds, as conveyed to the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL).
The concept of electoral bonds was introduced to facilitate anonymous contributions from individuals and domestic firms to political parties, with denominations ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore. Political parties were mandated to redeem the bonds within 15 days.
Since the inception of the program, a total of 22,217 electoral bonds have been redeemed.
Notably, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) redeemed Rs 8,451 crore; the Congress Rs 1,950 crore; Trinamool Congress Rs 1,707.81 crore, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Rs 1,407.30 crore.
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