Ministry was reluctant to assign serial numbers initially, but relented after SBI raised concerns about internal control and reconciliation
The finance ministry was initially reluctant to put up serial numbers on electoral bonds, saying they had the potential to reveal the identity of the donors, but agreed later on, after concerns were raised by State Bank of India (SBI).
After being entrusted with the task of issuing electoral bonds, SBI had raised certain concerns with the finance ministry, according to official documents accessed through the Right to Information (RTI) Act by activists Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired) and Anjali Bhardwaj. This was after the Union government issued the framework for electoral bonds, a financial instrument for making anonymous donations to political parties, on January 2, 2018.
In a letter dated January 19, 2018, SBI said that though the bonds will not carry the name of the buyer they “will necessarily need a serial number” as it will leave no audit trail for internal control and reconciliation and identifying the genuineness of the electoral bonds will become difficult at the branch level.
To this, the finance ministry drafted a clarification saying “putting a serial number would establish a link between the donor and the political party. This could discourage them to use such bonds. Hence, SBI may think of other security features, including holograms, to establish the genuineness of electoral bonds.”
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