Hyderabad, March 30 -- An RTI (Right To Information) revealed that the Union finance ministry ordered the State Bank of India (SBI) to "immediately put a hold" on the printing of electoral bonds, almost a fortnight (February 28) after the Supreme Court of India termed the scheme as unconstitutional.

It is also learnt that the finance ministry had given final approval for the printing of 10000 electoral bonds each of Rs 1 crore, three days before the apex court's order.

On February 15, the Supreme Court struck down the Union government's 2018 electoral bonds scheme for anonymous political funding.

It ordered the State Bank of India (SBI), the only bank where the bonds could be purchased and redeemed, to submit all information regarding ...