The Congress on Friday said that all its bank accounts had been frozen by the Income Tax (IT) department over a discrepancy in filing its 2018-19 tax returns, terming the action an “assault on democracy by the Narendra Modi government” in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election.
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) subsequently provided partial relief by allowing the party to operate its account after setting aside ₹115 crore in lien. “This means that ₹115 crore has been frozen. This amount is much more than we have in our Current Accounts,” Congress treasurer Ajay Maken said.
According to ITAT’s Friday order, the Revenue department told the tribunal that it had not issued any orders “for freezing the transactions in the bank account(s), but only for a lien on the amount lying in the bank account(s) upto the outstanding tax demand”. In a post on X, Mr. Maken shared copies of the notices sent to bank branch managers holding them personally liable for ensuring the payment of the Congress’ dues, and asked, “Is this not attaching/ seizing / freezing our accounts?”
