'No Money For Electricity Bill, Salaries': Cong Claims Bank Accounts Frozen, I-T Dept Demands ₹210 Cr Recovery

The Congress party on Friday alleged that its bank accounts have been frozen by the Income Tax department. This comes just after, the highly-anticipated judgment of the electoral bonds case which was delivered by the Supreme Court on Thursday, February 15, which held that anonymous electoral bonds are violative of the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Consequently, the scheme has been struck down as unconstitutional. A constitution bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra heard a batch of cases challenging the controversial electoral bonds.

Youth Congress bank accounts have been frozen: Ajay Maken

It was stated by Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken that information was received yesterday indicating that banks were not honoring the cheques issued by them. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the bank accounts of the Youth Congress had been frozen.

Additionally, the accounts of the Congress party had also been seized. A recovery amount of Rs 210 crore was demanded by the Income Tax department from the Youth Congress and the Congress party. The crowdfunding money in their accounts has been frozen as well.

Maken expressed that freezing the accounts of the opposition just two weeks before elections equates to freezing democracy. Furthermore, it was mentioned by him that currently, there is no money available to spend on various expenses such as electricity bills and salaries for employees. This situation is expected to impact not only the Nyay Yatra but all political activities as well.

Meanwhile, in a post on X, it was stated by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge that the accounts of the country's largest Opposition party, the Indian National Congress, had been frozen by the power-drunk Modi Government just before the Lok Sabha elections. He added that this action constitutes a deep assault on India's Democracy.

It was further mentioned that the unconstitutional money collected by the BJP would be utilized by them for elections, while the money collected by the Congress through crowdfunding shall be sealed, as stated by the party president.

It was also mentioned that elections in the future were unlikely. An appeal was made to the Judiciary to save the multi-party system in the country and protect India's Democracy, according to the Congress president. It was stated that a strong fight against this autocracy would be waged by taking to the streets.

Echoing the sentiments of the party chief, it was appealed by Maken to the judiciary to save democracy, stating that it was in danger. It was mentioned that the country is headed towards "one-party democracy." It was also mentioned that the party has already appealed to the Income Tax appellate authority and hoped for justice. Otherwise, an appeal would be made before the judiciary, as stated by Maken.

Supreme Court Reveals Political Parties' Anonymous Donations

The revelation of data on anonymous donations received by various political parties in India since 2017-18 was made in the Supreme Court's judgment on Thursday, which struck down the Electoral Bonds Scheme. It was disclosed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had received the highest amount of anonymous donations, totalling over ₹6,566 crores, as reported by Bar and Bench.

Following the BJP, the Indian National Congress ranked second with a comparatively lower amount of ₹1,123 crore in donations. The All India Trinamool Congress also received ₹1,092 crore since 2017. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) stood as the only national party that did not accept donations through electoral bonds.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna, in his separate but concurring opinion, analyzed the data presented before the Court, mainly by the petitioners, and available on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website. The data demonstrated that a larger portion of the donations was directed towards the ruling party at the Centre, affirming the apprehension raised before the Constitution Bench, as per media reports.

Furthermore, the data indicated that over 54 per cent of electoral bonds were sold in the denomination of ₹1 crore, followed by ₹10 lakh and a certain percentage of ₹1 lakh and below. Additionally, the share of income from unknown sources for national parties increased from 66 per cent during the years 2014-15 to 2016-17 to 72 per cent during the years 2018-19 to 2021-22, according to the data. Overall, the income from the Electoral Bonds Scheme between 2018-19 to 2021-22 constituted 58 per cent of the total income of the national political parties.