The Union Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley unveiled the contours of the Electoral Bonds scheme.
This scheme aims to clean the political funding system by ensuring that there is a flow of clean money to the political parties without revealing the names of the donors.
The basic contours of this scheme were announced during the 2017 Budget which included their denominations, validity and eligibility of the purchasers.
This scheme aims to clean the political funding system by ensuring that there is a flow of clean money to the political parties without revealing the names of the donors.
Key features of the Electoral Bonds
- The Finance Minister said that the Electoral Bonds will be a bearer instrument in the nature of a Promissory Note and an interest-free banking instrument.
- These bonds can be purchased from specified branches of SBI by any citizen of India or a body incorporated in India.
- The Electoral Bonds can be purchased for any value in multiples of Rs 1000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.
- To benefit from this scheme, the political parties should be registered with the Election Commission. They should not have secured less than 1% of the votes polled to the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha or state Legislative Assembly.
- The bonds will not carry the name of the payee and will be valid for a period of only 15 days.
- During this period, these bonds can be used to make a donation only to certain political parties (which have secured less than 1% votes).
- Under this scheme, electoral bonds will be available for purchase for 10 days each in January, April, July and October.
Benefits of the scheme
- The Electoral Bonds scheme will bring transparency in the funding system of political parties and elections.
- The political funding system has always been criticized as people do not get clear details about the amount of money donated or spent.
- At present the donor, the amount of the fund or the source of the funds is unknown. But these Electoral Bonds will ensure the donor to know to which party he is donating the money to.
- Every political party will file return before Election Commission as to how much money has come through electoral bonds.
- According to Mr. Arun Jaitley, this scheme would help a lot of opposition parties as if a disclosure is made it will always be in favour of the ruling party.
What is an Electoral Bond?
Electoral Bond is a financial instrument for making donations to political parties. These are issued by scheduled commercial banks upon authorization from the Central government to intending donors, but only against cheque and digital payments. It cannot be purchased by paying cash.Expected Questions
What is the validity of electoral bonds?
a. 25 Days
b. 20 Days
c. 10 Days
d. 15 Days
Electoral bonds can be used to make a donation only to certain political parties which have secured less than
a. 4% votes
b. 3% votes
c. 1% votes
d. 2% votes
