It should be noted that only one branch of SBI in each state is authorised to issue these bonds
Gujarat ranked fifth in the number of electoral bonds being issued across the country. An RTI filed with the State Bank of India (SBI), the only bank authorised to issued electoral bonds, found that in the year 2018, Rs18 crore worth of electoral bonds was bought from the SBI branch in Gandhinagar.
It should be noted that only one branch of SBI in each state is authorised to issue these bonds. In the year 2019, the number of electoral bonds being issued for just two months of January and March rose by four times touching Rs 73.5 crores.
Mumbai topped the list, with bonds worth Rs 495 crores issued for the months of January and March, while it was Rs 382 crore for the year 2018. Mumbai was followed by New Delhi (Rs 147 crore and Rs 205 crore respectively for the year 2018 and 2019) and Kolkata (Rs 231 crore and Rs 370 crore for the two years) Chennai came fourth followed by Gandhinagar.
Overall Rs1056 crore worth of bonds were issued across the country in 2018 while t was Rs1716 crore for the two months of 2019.
Pankti Jog, Gujarat state coordinator for the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said that what the electoral bonds have done is made donations to political parties more opaque. “At least earlier we knew who gave how much to political parties if the donation was not in cash and not above Rs20,000,” said Jog.
She said what the bonds have also done is ensure that majority of the donations go to ruling party. “Even when the electoral bonds were being proposed many had opposed it on the ground that since the data of who bought these bonds was with the SBI it was very easy for the government to access the data even though the government had claimed that the anonymity that electoral bonds provided would prevent.”
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