Electoral bonds: What Are They? Contribute to Political Parties

The Supreme Court invalidated the electoral bonds program today, citing violations of the constitutional rights to information and freedom of speech and expression. This decision is a historic one.
However, what are electoral bonds exactly? As initially stated by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2017–18, an electoral bond is a means of financing donations to political parties.As per the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018, an electoral bond is defined as a bond that is issued with the characteristics of a promissory note and must have bearer character. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms, a bearer instrument is one that lacks a buyer or payee's name, no ownership information is kept on file, and the holder of the instrument—a political party, for example—is assumed to be its owner.Citizens of India may donate these bonds, which are issued in multiples of ₹ 1,000, ₹ 10,000, ₹ 1 lakh, ₹ 10 lakh, and ₹ 1 crore, to political parties of their choice under the scheme.

The political parties have fifteen days to redeem these bonds. An individual can purchase bonds on their own or in partnership with other people.
There is no cap on the quantity of electoral bonds that an individual or corporate entity may buy. The authorized bank will deposit the amount of bonds to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund if they are not cashed within the 15-day validity period. The ADR drew attention to the fact that the scheme does not mandate that political parties include the names and addresses of individuals making contributions through electoral bonds in their yearly contribution reports that are submitted to the Election Commission.