Donors purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 81.67 Cr before Delhi polls

A large chunk of the bonds were redeemed in Delhi—Rs 59.30 crore

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Majority of the electoral bonds sold just ahead of the Assembly elections in Delhi were purchased in Kolkata, while the national capital led in terms of the total worth of the bonds bought by donors in the 13th phase of the scheme that was in effect from January 13 to 22. Bonds amounting to a total of Rs 81.67 crore were bought during this period.

As many as 43 out of a total of 139 bonds purchased in the latest scheme were bought at the State Bank of India's Kolkata main branch, followed by 36 at the New Delhi main branch of the bank, which has been authorised to sell the bonds.

A total of 20 bonds were purchased at the Lucknow main branch of SBI, and 19 at the Jaipur main branch. As many as 13 bonds were purchased at the Mumbai main branch of the public sector bank, seven at the Bhubaneswar main branch, and one at the Gandhinagar main branch.

The New Delhi branch, however, led when it came to both the amount of bonds purchased and redeemed. Bonds worth Rs 22.05 crore were purchased in Delhi, followed by Lucknow, where bonds amounting to Rs 20 crore were bought. Bonds worth Rs 15.37 crore were purchased in Kolkata, Rs 13 crore in Mumbai, Rs seven crore in Bhubaneswar, Rs 3.25 crore in Jaipur and Rs one crore in Gandhinagar.

The information was provided by SBI in response to a query made under the Right to Information by activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd).

A large chunk of the bonds were redeemed in Delhi—Rs 59.30 crore. Bonds to the tune of Rs 12.37 crore were redeemed in Kolkata, followed by Rs ten crore in Bhubaneswar.

In the 13th phase, higher denomination bonds, as in the earlier phases, sold the most. Of the 139 bonds that were purchased in this phase, 78 were of Rs one crore denomination, 34 of Rs ten lakh denomination and 27 of Rs one lakh denomination. All the bonds that were bought were also redeemed.

After the completion of the 13th phase of the scheme, the total worth of bonds sold so far is Rs 6210 crore.