'Hopeful' of favourable SC verdict, Centre printed 8K Rs 1 crore electoral bonds this year

The government printed 8,350 electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination after December 27 last year and before the Supreme Court's judgment on the financial instrument, the latest RTI documents have shown. 'It appears that the government was confident that the Supreme Court would maintain the status quo. That was why it went ahead with printing more bonds of Rs 1 crore,' transparency activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired), who filed the RTI, told DH.

New Delhi: The government printed 8,350 electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination after December 27 last year and before the Supreme Court's judgment on the financial instrument, the latest RTI documents have shown.

With this, the government had printed 33,000 electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination before the Supreme Court scrapped the scheme and declared it unconstitutional on February 15.

According to an RTI response received by transparency activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired) on Tuesday, the government printed a total of 6.82 lakh electoral bonds since its inception in 2018.

Of these, the electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination totalled 33,000, representing an increase of 8,350 from what was reported in an RTI on December 27 last year (24,650).

The government had last printed electoral bonds in 2022, when it printed 10,000 bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination. So far, 15,631 bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination have been sold, which accounts for 94.65 per cent of the total bonds worth Rs 16,518.10 crore sold.

“It appears that the government was confident that the Supreme Court would maintain the status quo. That was why it went ahead with printing more bonds of Rs 1 crore,” Batra told DH. During the 30 phases of sales up to January, electoral bonds worth Rs 16,518.10 crore were sold.

According to the latest RTI, the government has paid Rs 1,90,01,380 to date for the printing of electoral bonds. However, it stated, "The final bill for the printing of 8,350 bonds (of Rs 1 crore denomination) has not been received by the Government of India to date."

Bond Denomination and Sale

Rs 1,000: 159 sold out of 2.65 lakh printed

Rs 10,000: 264 sold out of 2.65 lakh printed

Rs 1 lakh: 3,453 sold out of 93,000 printed

Rs 10 lakh: 8,523 sold out of 26,600 printed

Rs 1 crore: 15,631 sold out of 33,000 printed