Electoral bonds worth Rs 335.30 crore were sold during the 26th edition of sales at the Hyderabad SBI branch. The total value of the bonds is Rs 970.50 crore.
Around 1,470 bonds were sold in April as Karnataka was preparing to go to the polls as per an RTI request by activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired).
Electoral bonds were sold in 11 cities nationwide. After Hyderabad, the Kolkata SBI branch recorded sales of Rs 197.40 crore, the Mumbai branch Rs 169.37 crore and the Chennai branch sold bonds worth Rs 122 crore. The Bengaluru SBI branch sold bonds worth Rs 46 crore.
25 political parties opened bank accounts for cashing their electoral bonds and they cashed 1,455 bonds. The New Delhi SBI branch cashed bonds Rs 565.79 crore and the Kolkata SBI branch Rs 186.95 crore. Of the 1,470 electoral bonds sold by the SBI, 923 were of Rs 1 crore denomination.
During the bond sale between April 3 and 12, the SBI sold 468 bonds of Rs 1 lakh each, 69 bonds of Rs 1 lakh each and 10 bonds of Rs 10,000 each. Political parties are opening bank accounts at SBI branches after obtaining approval.
