Political parties encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 1,212 crore in the run-up to the recent round of elections in five states, taking the total of such bonds redeemed to Rs 9,187 crore since 2018.
In the 19th tranche of sale of electoral bonds, State Bank of India (SBI) — the only authorised bank to issue such bonds — issued 2,068 electoral bonds through its 12 branches, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha.
About 12.13 billion electoral bonds were sold during the 19th issue of electoral bonds that started from January 1 to January 10 ahead of the