An RTI response from the government has further escalated concerns surrounding implementation of the electoral bonds scheme. The government revealed that two parties, holding electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore each, were allowed to encash them despite the expiry of the 15-day validity period in May last year, and one of them did it. In addition, bonds worth around Rs 20 crore, which were not redeemed, were remitted to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.
According to the government's notification for operationalisation of the electoral bonds scheme, a bond shall be valid for 15 days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.
However, as per the response given by the Department of Economic Affairs to an RTI application filed by retired Commodore Lokesh Batra, which quoted communication from the State Bank of India (SBI) to the department, 10 bonds of Rs 1 crore each, purchased on May 3, 2018 and another ten bonds of Rs 1 crore each purchased on May 5, 2018 from Bengaluru main branch expired on May 18, 2018 and May 20, 2018 respectively because of non-redemption within 15 days from the date of issue.
The bank, however, said some bond holders approached its New Delhi main branch with a request that bonds are valid for 15 working days from the date of issue and wanted redemption of the bonds in the accounts of the political parties as per the scheme.
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The SBI sought a clarification from the Department of Economic Affairs and it was advised that the bonds could be redeemed if they were deposited in the branch within 15 working days from the date of issue. “Accordingly, 10 EBs of Rs 1 crore each purchased on May 5, 2018, which were deposited in New Delhi Main Branch on May 23, 2018, were paid on May 24, 2018,” the bank stated in the letter.
One of the parties encashed bonds worth Rs 10 crore, while the other set of bonds, also totalling Rs 10 crore, were not redeemed, and were deposited in the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.
“The government must explain why it waived off the validity period clause for bond holders still having bonds worth Rs 10 crore each, after the expiry of the laid down 15 days from date of issue. To do that, the government tweaked Clause 6 of the notification,” Batra, who is an RTI activist, said.
From the communications made by the SBI to the DEA, it also became evident that Rs 20 crore worth of bonds were in various tranches of the scheme were curiously not redeemed, and the money was transferred to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.
The SBI, in its letters to the DEA, has also claimed a commission of Rs 3.241 crore on account of handling electoral bonds. This is problematic, Batra said, pointing out that this is tax-payers' money, which is being used to operationalise the scheme. He said the government notification dated January 2 last year on the electoral bond scheme did not have a clause for payment of service charges to the bank by the government. The notification is, in fact, silent on who pays the commission to meet the transaction costs of the electoral bonds.
