The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed petitions filed by the Congress against the income tax reassessment proceedings that have been initiated against it by the Income Tax Department for the financial years 2014-’15, 2015-’16 and 2016-’17.
Income Tax Department “appears to have collated substantial and concrete evidence warranting further scrutiny and examination” under the Income Tax Act, said a division bench of Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav.
The Court also said that the Congress had approached it at the “proverbial fag end of the proceedings.”
The Court dismissal comes a day after the top Congress leaders including former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and current president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Thursday that the Income Tax department had frozen all its bank accounts ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Sonia Gandhi alleged that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was making “a systematic effort to cripple the Congress financially.”
The issue was extremely serious with “far-reaching consequences for not just their party but for our country’s democracy,” the leaders said.
Sonia Gandhi alleged that money was being forcibly taken from their bank accounts. “Even under these challenges we are doing our best to maintain effectiveness of our campaign,” the leader added.
“This is not just about the freezing of our bank accounts, its about the freezing of Indian democracy… As the biggest Opposition party, we cannot do anything. We can’t book advertisements or send our leaders anywhere. What else is that if not freezing of our democracy?” said Rahul Gandhi.
“Don’t want to mention how the BJP took money from some companies. As the Supreme Court is probing the matter, I hope the truth will be before us soon. I appeal to the Constitutional institutions that if they want free and fair elections, then they should allow us to freely access our bank accounts. No political party comes under the purview of Income Tax Department,” said Kharge.
