Income Tax Dept Freezes Main Accounts of Congress Party

New Delhi: The Income Tax department has frozen the Congress Party’s four main bank accounts on “flimsy grounds”, alleged treasurer of the party, Ajay Maken on Friday. According to Maken, this move by the IT department has affected all political activity of the party ahead of the announcement of the general elections.

Alleging that democracy was in danger in the country, Maken said, his party is unable to use even the funds received under its crowdfunding scheme.

Maken said four main bank accounts of the Congress party were frozen. But reports put the number at nine.

The accounts were frozen on an Income Tax demand of Rs 210 crore for 2018-19, an election year, Maken said.

“For the first time in the country’s history, accounts of the principal opposition party have been frozen by the tax authorities on flimsy grounds, barely two weeks before the announcement of the general elections,” Maken told reporters.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X, “Power drunk Modi Government has frozen the accounts of the country’s largest Opposition party – the Indian National Congress – just before the Lok Sabha elections.”

सत्ता के नशे में चूर, मोदी सरकार ने लोक सभा चुनाव के ठीक पहले देश की सबसे बड़ी विपक्षी पार्टी – भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस – के Accounts Frozen कर दिए है।

ये लोकतंत्र पर गहरा आघात है।

भाजपा ने जो असंवैधानिक धन इकट्ठा किया है, उसका इस्तेमाल वे चुनाव में करेंगे, लेकिन हमने…

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) February 16, 2024

“This is a deep assault on India’s Democracy,” he added.

The unconstitutional money collected by the BJP would be utilised by them for elections, but the money collected by the Congress through crowdfunding would be sealed, the party president said.

“That is why, I have said that there won’t be any elections in the future.  We appeal to the Judiciary to save the multi-party system in this country and protect India’s Democracy,” the Congress president said.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordering disclosure of the bond’s donors, amount and recipients by March 13.