Congress Bank Accounts Frozen: The Congress on Friday claimed that its bank accounts along with the accounts of its youth wing, Youth Congress, have been frozen by the income tax department, nearly a month ahead of the announcement of dates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections this year. However, shortly after the announcement, the accounts were unfrozen by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal pending a further hearing next week.
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Congress leader Vivek Tankha who appeared before the I-T tribunal against the order, said that the party was now allowed to operate its bank accounts. The tribunal will hear the matter next Wednesday before a final decision is taken on the matter. Tankha said he told the tribunal that the Congress would not be able to participate in the “festival of elections” in case its accounts remain frozen.
Tankha said that the ITAT said there is no restriction on bank accounts but only a lien. A lien is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation.
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Earlier in the day, treasurer Ajay Maken said the Income Tax department had frozen the Congress’ main bank accounts on “flimsy grounds” and this affected all political activity of the party barely two weeks before general elections are announced.
The accounts, including that of the Indian Youth Congress, were frozen on an Income Tax demand of Rs 210 crore for 2018-19, an election year, Maken said, adding, that the party filed its Income Tax return for the concerned year a few days late and that is why this action.
“We got information yesterday that banks are not honouring the cheque we are issuing. On further investigation, we got to know that the Youth Congress bank accounts have been frozen. The accounts of the Congress party have also been seized,” Maken said.
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“Income tax asked for Rs 210 crore recovery from Youth Congress and Congress party. The crowdfunding money in our accounts has been frozen. Just 2 weeks before elections when the opposition’s accounts are frozen, it is equivalent to freezing the democracy,” Maken added.
The Congress leader further said, “Right now we don’t have any money to spend, to pay electricity bills, to pay salaries to our employees. Everything will be impacted, not only [Bharat Jodo] Nyay Yatra but all political activities will be impacted.”
Notably, the development regarding the freezing of the Congress’ bank accounts comes a day after the Supreme Court struck down the Electoral Bonds scheme as unconstitutional in a unanimous verdict. While the Opposition parties hailed the apex court’s decision, the BJP said that the scheme was brought in for transparency in electoral funding.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that it was proved that the BJP government had made Electoral Bonds as a medium of commission and corruption. Reacting to the judgment, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that on the day of the launching of the Electoral Bonds scheme in 2017, the Congress party had called it undemocratic.
In a post on X, Kharge said, “We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court today, which has struck down this ‘Black Money Conversion’ scheme of the Modi Govt, calling it “Unconstitutional”. We remember how the Modi Govt, PMO and FM bulldozed every institution – RBI, Election Commission, Parliament and Opposition to fill BJP’s coffers. No wonder, 95% of the funding under this scheme was received by BJP.”
(With inputs from ANI)
