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Congress claims bank accounts of INC and Youth Congress frozen by I-T dept

Congress claims bank accounts of INC and Youth Congress frozen by I-T dept

Congress said that in all, four accounts of the Congress party have been frozen. Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken said the party has approached the Income-Tax Appellate Authority (ITAT) to defreeze their account.

Business Today Desk
Business Today Desk
  • Updated Feb 16, 2024 12:17 PM IST
Congress claims bank accounts of INC and Youth Congress frozen by I-T deptThe income tax department raised a demand of Rs 210 crore from the party.

Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken on Friday claimed that the bank accounts of the Indian National Congress and Indian Youth Congress have been frozen by the Income Tax department. Former union minister Maken said the action is on account of a 45-delay in filing I-T return for the year 2018-19.

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He said that four accounts of the Congress party have been frozen.  “It is not a freezing of Congress’ account but democracy has been frozen. When the announcement for elections is just a month away, they have frozen the account of the principal Opposition party,” he said. “Will there be a single-party rule in the country?” he added.

Maken said the party has approached the Income-Tax Appellate Authority (ITAT) to defreeze their account.

Maken further said that the party got the intimation on Thursday. "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. 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."

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The Congress leader added that the party at present lacks funds to spend, settle bills, or pay salaries to its employees.

"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 Nyay Yatra but all political activities will be impacted..." he said.

This development comes a day after the Supreme Court dismissed the electoral bonds scheme, which allowed anonymous funding to political parties. The apex court said the bonds are "unconstitutional" and held that it violated freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

The decision by the Constitution bench, led by CJI DY Chandrachud, comes just months ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

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The judgment read:"The money which is donated to political parties is not used by the political party only for the purposes of electoral campaign. Party donations are also used, for instance, to build offices for the political party and pay party workers".

The judgment further added: "The window for contributions is not open for a limited period only prior to the elections. Money can be contributed to political parties throughout the year and the contributed money can be spent by the political party for reasons other than just election campaigning".

It added "it is in light of the nexus between economic inequality and political inequality, and the legal regime in India regulating party financing that the essentiality of the information on political financing for an informed voter must be analysed".

Also read: Electoral bonds worth Rs 16,000 cr sold since its inception; BJP gets the lion’s share

Published on: Feb 16, 2024 11:34 AM IST
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