The sale of the seventh tranche of electoral bonds will take place between 1 to 10 January, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Electoral bonds are alternatives to cash donations made to political parties that were introduced in 2018 as part of the government's efforts to bring transparency in political funding. These are short-term bonds that are valid for 15 calendar days, where the holders do not earn any interest (coupon rate).

"The State Bank of India (SBI), in the VII Phase of sale of Electoral Bonds, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorised Branches w.e.f. January 01 - 10, 2019," the statement said.

In the last six phases till November 2018, electoral bonds aggregated up to Rs 1,056.73 crore from purchases made by citizens or entities.

As per provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or entities incorporated or established in India. "It may be noted that Electoral Bonds shall be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. The Electoral Bond deposited by an eligible Political Party in its account shall be credited on the same day," the statement said.

SBI is the only authorised bank to issue such bonds. Here are the names of the 29 authorized SBI branches where you can make such a purchase either singly or jointly, with other individuals.