Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018 - F. No. 4(23)-B(W&M)/2017 - S.O. 29(E) - Indian Law

MINISTRY OF FINANCE (Department of Economic Affairs) NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 2nd January, 2018 S.O. 29(E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of Section 31 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934), the Central Government hereby makes the following Scheme, namely:- 1. Short title and commencement . (1) This scheme may be called the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018. (2) It shall come into force on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette. 2. Definition . In this Scheme, unless the context otherwise requires, (a) electoral bond means a bond issued in the nature of promissory note which shall be a bearer banking instrument and shall not carry the name of the buyer or payee; (b) authorised bank means the State Bank of India authorised to issue and encash the bonds in the branches specified in Annexure I to this notification; (c) issuing branch means a designated branch of the authorised bank specified in Annexure I for issuing electoral bonds; (d) person includes- (i) an individual; (ii) a Hindu undivided family; (iii) a company; (iv) a firm; (v) an association of persons or a body of individuals, whether incorporated or not; (vi) every artificial juridical person, not falling within any of the preceding sub-clauses; and (vii) any agency, office or branch owned or controlled by such person. 3. Eligibility for purchase and encashment of electoral bond. -(1) The Bond under this Scheme may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. (2) A person being an individual can buy bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals. (3) Only the political parties registered under section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly, as the case may be, shall be eligible to receive the bond. (4) The bond shall be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank. 4. Applicability of Know Your Customer Norms. -(1) The extant instructions issued by the Reserve Bank of India regarding Know Your Customer norms of a bank s customer shall apply for buyers of the bonds. (2) The authorised bank may call for any additional Know Your Customer documents, if it deems necessary. 5. Denomination . The bonds shall be issued in the denomination of ₹ 1000, ₹ 10,000, ₹ 1,00,000, ₹ 10,00,000 and ₹ 1,00,00,000. 6. Validity of Bond. - (1) The bond shall be valid for fifteen days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. (2) The bond deposited by any political party to its account shall be credited on the same day. 7. Procedure for making application for purchase of bonds . (1) Every buyer desirous of purchasing bond can apply with a physical or through online application in the format specified in Annexure II to this notification. (2) Every application shall contain particulars as per the format in Annexure-II and shall be accompanied with the specified documents. (3) On receipt of an application, the issuing branch shall issue the requisite bond, if all the requirements are fulfilled. (4) The information furnished by the buyer shall be treated confidential by the authorised bank and shall not be disclosed to any authority for any purposes, except when demanded by a competent court or upon registration of criminal case by any law enforcement agency. (5) A non-Know Your Customer compliant application or an application not meeting the requirements of the scheme shall be rejected. (6) The bond shall be issued to the buyer on non-refundable basis. 8. Periodicity of issue of bonds .- (1) The bonds under this Scheme shall be available for purchase by any person for a period of ten days each in the months of January, April, July and October as may be specified by the Central Government. (2) An additional period of thirty days shall be specified by the Central Government in the year of general elections to the House of People. 9. Interest. No interest shall be payable on the bond. 10 . Issuing offices and commission payable .-No commission, brokerage or any other charges for issue of bond shall be payable by the buyer against purchase of the bond. 11 . Payment options .-(1) All payments for the issuance of the bond shall be accepted in Indian rupees, through demand draft or cheque or through Electronic Clearing System or direct debit to the buyer s account. (2) Where payment is made through cheque or demand draft, the same shall be drawn in favour of the issuing bank at the place of issue such bond. 12. Encashment of the bond. -(1) The bond can be encashed only by an eligible political party by depositing the same in their designated bank account. (2) The amount of bonds not encashed within the validity period of fifteen days shall be deposited by the authorised bank to the Prime Minister Relief Fund. 13. Tax treatment. The face value of the bonds shall be counted as income by way of voluntary contributions received by an eligible political party, for the purpose of exemption from Income-tax under section 13A of the Income-tax Act, 1961. 14. Trading of bonds . The bonds shall not be eligible for trading. Annexure I Name of Authorised Bank: STATE BANK OF INDIA [refer clause 2 (b)] List of Issuing Branches: [refer clause 2 (c)] S.NO. STATE BCODE BRANCH NAME 1 ANDHRA PRADESH 952 VISAKHAPATNAM 948 VIJAYAWADA 2 ANDAMAN NICOBAR 156 PORT BLAIR 3 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 6091 ITANAGAR 4 ASSAM 78 GUWAHATI 5 BIHAR 152 PATNA MAIN BRANCH 6 CHANDIGARH 626 CHANDIGARH MAIN BRANCH 7 CHHATISGARH 461 RAIPUR 336 BILASPUR 8 DADAR NAGAR HAVELI 6586 SILVASSA 9 DAMAN DIU 514 DAMAN 10 DELHI 691 NEW DELHI MAIN BRANCH 11 GOA 509 PANAJI 12 GUJARAT 1355 GANDHI NAGAR 301 AHMEDABAD 13 HARYANA 645 NEW COLONY GURGAON 14 HIMACHAL PRADESH 718 SHIMLA 15 JAMMU KASHMIR 2295 BADAMI BAGH BR SRINAGAR 657 JAMMU 16 JHARKHAND 167 RANCHI 17 KARNATAKA 813 BANGALORE MAIN BRANCH 846 HUBLI 18 KERALA 941 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM MAIN 19 LAKSHADWEEP 5080 KAVARATTI 20 MADHYA PRADESH 1308 BHOPAL MAIN BRANCH 377 GWALIOR MAIN BRANCH 21 MAHARASHTRA 300 MUMBAI MAIN BRANCH 432 NAGPUR 454 PUNE MAIN BRANCH 22 MANIPUR 92 IMPHAL 23 MEGHALAYA 188 SHILONG 24 MIZORAM 1539 AIZAWL 25 NAGALAND 214 KOHIMA 26 ODISHA 41 BHUBANESHWAR 59 CUTTACK 27 PUDUCHERRY 900 PUDUCHERRY 28 PUNJAB 674 LUDHIANA 29 RAJASTHAN 656 JAIPUR MAIN BRANCH 659 JODHPUR 30 SIKKIM 232 GANGTOK 31 TAMILNADU 800 CHENNAI MAIN BRANCH 827 COIMBATORE 32 TELANGANA 916 SECUNDERABAD 5324 NIZAMABAD 847 HYDERABAD MAIN BRANCH 33 TRIPURA 2 AGARTALA 34 UTTAR PRADESH 125 LUCKNOW 86 GORAKHPUR 102 JHANSI 602 AGRA MAIN BRANCH 35 UTTARAKHAND 630 DEHARADUN MAIN BRANCH 36 WEST BENGAL 1 KOLKATA MAIN BRANCH 184 SILIGUDI Annexure II Format of Application for Issue of Electoral Bond: APPLICATION FORM FOR ELECTORAL BONDS ___________(YEAR) NAME OF ISSUING BANK: NAME OF BRANCH: DATE MODE OF SUBSCRIPTION CHEQUE/DD ELECTRONIC TRANSFER DETAILS OF CHEQUE/DD/ DATED AMOUNT IN FIGURES: AMOUNT IN WORDS: DENOMINATION NUMBER OF ELECTORAL BONDS REQUIRED (in denomination of ₹ 1000, ₹ 10,000, ₹ 1,00,000, ₹ 10,00,000 and ₹ 1,00,00,000) PAN NO. / TAN NO.AS APPLICABLE APPLICANT STATUS (As per clause 3(a) of the notification No .dated ) INDIVIDUAL HUF COMPANY FIRM CHARITABLE TRUST Others APPLICANT (S) DETAILS (IN BLOCK LETTERS) FIRST/ SOLE APPLICANT S NAME IN FULL: DETAILS OF IDENTITY: (Passport, Aadhaar/Voter Id) SECOND APPLICANT S NAME IN FULL: (Name of more applicant s can be added, if situation so demands) DETAILS OF IDENTITY: (Passport, Aadhaar/Voter Id) FIRST / SOLE APPLICANT S ADDRESS IN FULL: CONTACT DETAILS : PHONE/ FAX: EMAIL: DECLARATION: I/ We hereby declare and undertake that (i) The information furnished in the application form is correct in all respects. (ii) I have read and understood the details of information for the buyer of the ElectoralBonds as well as the rights and duties of the Electoral Bond holder. Signature Signature 1 st APPLIANT 2 nd APPLICANT IN CASE OF THUMB IMPRESSION, ATTESTATION BY TWO WITNESSES: 1 ST WITNESS (DETAILS) 2 ND WITNESS (DETAILS) HUF DECALARATION : I, ____________________RESIDING AT THE ADDRESS GIVEN AGAINST FIRST APPLICANT, DO SOLEMNLY AFFIRM THAT I AM THE KARTA OF THE HINDU UNDIVIDED FAMILY AND AS SUCH HAVE FULL POWERS TO PURCHASE AND OTHER WISE DEAL IN THE ELECTORAL BONDS STANDING IN THE NAME OF THE HUF. SPECIMEN SIGNATURE FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE HUF (Name of the HUF) : Place ___________ Date_____________ Signature of the Karta FOR OFFICE USE Date of receipt of application BLA No./ CIF No. HUF status (Y/N) Any other information INFORMATION FOR BUYERS OF ELECTORAL BOND: ITEM ELECTORAL BOND WHO CAN BUY (1) The Bond under this Scheme may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. (2) A person being an individual can buy bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals. LIMIT OF INVESTMENT None FORM OF ELECTORAL BONDS Non-refundable banking instrument, in physical form INTEREST OPTION No interest shall be payable LIFE OF ELECTORAL BOND To be encashed within fifteen days from date of issuance. TRADABILITY Not tradable. LOANS FROM BANKS AGAINST SECURITY OF THESE ELECTORAL BONDS Not permitted. APPLICATION FORMS Available at designated branches of authorised Banks. ENCASHMENT Only the political parties registered under section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly, as the case may be, shall be eligible to receive the bond. [F. No. 4(23)-B(W M)/2017] PRASHANT GOYAL, Jt. Secy.