Ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections, the Centre on Friday approved the issuance of the 26th tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale on April 3.

Karnataka will go to polls on May 10. Votes, as per the Election Commission schedule, will be counted on May 13.

Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding.

State Bank of India (SBI), in the 26th phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through 29 authorised branches from April 3 to 12, the finance ministry said in a statement.

The last phase of electoral bonds (25th tranche) was open for subscription between January 19 and 28, 2023.

Usually, electoral bond tranches are open for sale between 1 and 10 of a designated month. However, the 25th did not follow this order.

The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened from March 1 to 10, 2018.

SBI is the only authorised bank to issue electoral bonds.

PTI