Moneylife: National: Friday, 16 January 2026.
A fresh set of replies received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by transparency campaigner commodore (Cmde) Lokesh Batra (retd) has raised new questions over who ultimately bore the cost of printing high-value electoral bonds after the Supreme Court struck down the scheme in February 2024 and why key bills remain unpaid or unaccounted for more than a year later.
The RTI responses,
received from the department of economic affairs (DEA) under the Union ministry
of finance (MoF) and the Indian Security Press (ISP) at Nashik, relate
specifically to the printing of 8,350 electoral bonds (EBs) of ₹1 crore
denomination each, which were printed after the Supreme Court’s landmark
judgment dated 15 February 2024.
Cmde Batra had sought point-wise information on the total amount levied on the government towards printing electoral bonds, including goods and services tax (GST), the date of the final bill for the 8,350 high-value bonds printed after the judgment, the date of payment, and details of any correspondence between the government and ISP Nashik regarding the final bill.
In its RTI reply dated 31 December 2025, DEA stated that an amount of ₹1.90 crore, inclusive of GST, had been levied on the government towards the printing of electoral bonds, along with ₹6,720 for a 'device to verify mask-a-print security'.
However, the ministry also admitted that the final bill for printing the 8,350 electoral bonds of ₹1 crore denomination 'has not been received by the government of India till date', rendering questions on the date of payment inapplicable.
DEA further says that no information existed on any communication or notings exchanged with ISP Nashik on the pending bill.
In parallel, information sought from the Nashik ISP, the government-owned security printer, shows that the press had indeed printed and supplied the 8,350 electoral bonds of ₹1 crore denomination in February 2024. In earlier disclosures and subsequent RTI proceedings, ISP indicated that its cost for printing these 8,350 bonds was about ₹3.72 lakh, a fraction of the total amount cited by the DEA for printing electoral bonds overall.
In a detailed RTI application and subsequent appeal filed on 22 June 2025, Cmde Batra specifically asked ISP to disclose the date on which the final bill for these bonds was forwarded to DEA, the date of receipt of payment, or alternatively, whether the cost had been borne internally by ISP from its own budgetary head. The appeal notes that more than a year had elapsed since the bonds were printed on 21 February 2024, yet no clarity had emerged on billing or payment.
The RTI replies, read together, point to a puzzling gap in the official record. While the DEA confirms that over ₹1.90 crore has been levied for printing electoral bonds in total, it simultaneously states that the final bill for the specific batch of 8,350 bonds of ₹1 crore denomination printed after the Supreme Court judgment has not been received. On the other hand, ISP confirms printing and supply but offers no public clarity on whether it has been paid for this specific job or has absorbed the cost itself.
Cmde Batra has questioned why no reminder appears to have been issued by the government to ISP Nashik for submission of the final bill, and whether the cost has effectively been written off, likening it to a non-performing asset. “After all, this is taxpayers’ money. The government must come out with a clear answer,” he says.
The issue assumes significance against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s strong observations on transparency in the electoral bond scheme. In February and March 2024, the apex court had directed full disclosure of electoral bond details and criticised selective sharing of information, leading to eventual disclosure by State Bank of India (SBI) to the election commission.
Earlier RTI disclosures, reported by Moneylife in April 2024, had shown that the Union government spent nearly ₹14 crore on electoral bonds over the years, including commission paid to SBI, printing costs, and GST. Of this, around ₹1.90 crore was attributed to printing and supply charges paid to ISP Nashik for over 6.82 lakh bonds printed between 2018 and February 2024.
However, the latest RTIs introduce a new and narrower question: who paid or who is yet to pay for the printing of electoral bonds authorised and executed after the scheme had effectively been struck down by the Supreme Court.
With both the DEA and ISP pointing to gaps in billing and payment records, the matter underscores continuing opacity in the financial unwinding of the now-scrapped electoral bond scheme, even as public authorities insist that no further information is available on record.
A fresh set of replies received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by transparency campaigner commodore (Cmde) Lokesh Batra (retd) has raised new questions over who ultimately bore the cost of printing high-value electoral bonds after the Supreme Court struck down the scheme in February 2024 and why key bills remain unpaid or unaccounted for more than a year later.
Cmde Batra had sought point-wise information on the total amount levied on the government towards printing electoral bonds, including goods and services tax (GST), the date of the final bill for the 8,350 high-value bonds printed after the judgment, the date of payment, and details of any correspondence between the government and ISP Nashik regarding the final bill.
In its RTI reply dated 31 December 2025, DEA stated that an amount of ₹1.90 crore, inclusive of GST, had been levied on the government towards the printing of electoral bonds, along with ₹6,720 for a 'device to verify mask-a-print security'.
However, the ministry also admitted that the final bill for printing the 8,350 electoral bonds of ₹1 crore denomination 'has not been received by the government of India till date', rendering questions on the date of payment inapplicable.
DEA further says that no information existed on any communication or notings exchanged with ISP Nashik on the pending bill.
In parallel, information sought from the Nashik ISP, the government-owned security printer, shows that the press had indeed printed and supplied the 8,350 electoral bonds of ₹1 crore denomination in February 2024. In earlier disclosures and subsequent RTI proceedings, ISP indicated that its cost for printing these 8,350 bonds was about ₹3.72 lakh, a fraction of the total amount cited by the DEA for printing electoral bonds overall.
In a detailed RTI application and subsequent appeal filed on 22 June 2025, Cmde Batra specifically asked ISP to disclose the date on which the final bill for these bonds was forwarded to DEA, the date of receipt of payment, or alternatively, whether the cost had been borne internally by ISP from its own budgetary head. The appeal notes that more than a year had elapsed since the bonds were printed on 21 February 2024, yet no clarity had emerged on billing or payment.
The RTI replies, read together, point to a puzzling gap in the official record. While the DEA confirms that over ₹1.90 crore has been levied for printing electoral bonds in total, it simultaneously states that the final bill for the specific batch of 8,350 bonds of ₹1 crore denomination printed after the Supreme Court judgment has not been received. On the other hand, ISP confirms printing and supply but offers no public clarity on whether it has been paid for this specific job or has absorbed the cost itself.
Cmde Batra has questioned why no reminder appears to have been issued by the government to ISP Nashik for submission of the final bill, and whether the cost has effectively been written off, likening it to a non-performing asset. “After all, this is taxpayers’ money. The government must come out with a clear answer,” he says.
The issue assumes significance against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s strong observations on transparency in the electoral bond scheme. In February and March 2024, the apex court had directed full disclosure of electoral bond details and criticised selective sharing of information, leading to eventual disclosure by State Bank of India (SBI) to the election commission.
Earlier RTI disclosures, reported by Moneylife in April 2024, had shown that the Union government spent nearly ₹14 crore on electoral bonds over the years, including commission paid to SBI, printing costs, and GST. Of this, around ₹1.90 crore was attributed to printing and supply charges paid to ISP Nashik for over 6.82 lakh bonds printed between 2018 and February 2024.
However, the latest RTIs introduce a new and narrower question: who paid or who is yet to pay for the printing of electoral bonds authorised and executed after the scheme had effectively been struck down by the Supreme Court.
With both the DEA and ISP pointing to gaps in billing and payment records, the matter underscores continuing opacity in the financial unwinding of the now-scrapped electoral bond scheme, even as public authorities insist that no further information is available on record.
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