Karnataka will go under polls from May 10, this year. Ahead of assembly polls, the government has cleared the 26th tranche of Electoral Bonds that will open for sale from Monday, April 3. According to the information, these bonds have been pushed as an alternate to the cash donations made to the political parties to as a part of effort to bring transparency in funding.According to the official statement by finance ministry, the State Bank of India (SBI) has been authorised to issue and encash the electoral bonds. The same will done through 26 authorised branches of State Bank of India (SBI) from April 3 to April 12. The last phase of the 25th tranche was open for subscription in the beginning of this year, from January 19 to January 28. Generally, the electoral bonds tranche is scheduled to be open between 1-10 of designated month. However, the 25th tranche did not follow the same.Authorised Bank for Electoral BondsGovernment has authorised only State Bank of India for the issuance of the electoral bonds. The branches that are authorised to sale these bonds includes Bengaluru, Lucknow, Shimla, Dehradun, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Raipur, and Mumbai. the first batch of the electoral bonds were released on March 1, 2018.Validity of Electoral BondsAfter the date of issuance of an electoral bond it is valid for 15 days. According to the guidelines, the payments are not made to any political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. The Electoral bonds can be purchased by Indian citizens and institutions incorporated or established in the nation.Eligibility for Electoral BondsThe registered political parties which have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes in the legislative assembly election or in Lok Sabha elections are eligible to get funding through these Electoral Bonds.Supreme Courts review on Electoral BondsThe Supreme Court will hear the case on April 11 in light of the Electoral Bonds review. The Supreme Court is currently deliberating whether the existing electoral bonds programme encourages anonymous corporate funding of political parties and whether it was improperly certified as a Finance Act. The Courts ruling will have an impact on election funding transparency. The bench is comprising the chief justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narsimha.However, agreeing to the petition, the Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave supported and requested the bench to hear the matter in advance keeping the assembly polls in mind, which is scheduled for May, this year.During the last hearing, the bench headed by CJI Chadrachud Singh said that they will hear the matter in April 11, and see whether it should be referred to the constitution bench. The bench noted that it can be divided into three distinct sets.The Electoral Bonds Program being challengedIf purchasing political parties should fall under the 2005 Right to Information ActThe Foreign Contribution Regulation Act of 2010 Amendment, as amended by the Finance Acts of 2016 and 2018, is being contested.Karnataka Assembly electionsKarnataka will go under assembly polls on May 10, 2023 to elect all 224 members of the legislative assembly. The counting of the votes and declaration of the poll result is scheduled for May 13, 2023.According to the records, the current tenure of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on May 24, 2023. Earlier, the assembly elections were done on May 2018, for the formation of the government. After which, coalition of Janata Dal (Secular) and Indian National Congress formed the state government, with H. D. Kumaraswamy becoming Chief Minister.
