Finance Ministry issued a statement saying electoral bonds will only bring transparency; The poll watchdog differs.
New Delhi: The Election Commission is expected to do a review of the efficacy of electoral bonds after March 10, even as State Bank of India on Thursday started selling the new instrument launched with an aim to make political funding cleaner.
The Election Commission had previously taken a stern view against the scheme, saying that it would discourage transparency.
On Thursday, EC sources said the expenditure management committee of the commission could review the use of electoral bonds only after next week.
"The committee will watch how the system works and the EC can then take a view on what the consequences of using electoral bonds are," a top official told ET.
“The identities of both the donor and the receiver will not be known, so we have to see how that works.” Electoral bonds, which are interest-free bearer instruments in the nature of promissory notes, will be made available for purchase for 10 days during specified months. These will be sold through specified branches of SBI in the multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.
The highlight of the bonds is that the identity of the donor will not be known to the receiver. The Centre had introduced the concept of anonymous donors to protect the identity of entities that under the current practice may feel compelled to appease both the ruling party and the opposition.
The Supreme Court is currently looking at the electoral bond programme, after a petitioner raised it through a PIL.
The EC, under former election commissioner Nasim Zaidi, had flagged its concerns over the opaqueness of the scheme in a letter to the law ministry in May 2017.
The commission had specifically objected to amendments in the Representation of the People Act and the Companies Act, which exempted political parties from disclosing donations received through electoral bonds and removed the cap on corporate contributions to political parties. This stance was later reiterated in a meeting that the EC had with the finance ministry.
