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11-03-2024
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: India’s main opposition Congress party suffered a setback on Friday as a tax tribunal dismissed its appeal to pause recovery of 1.35 billion rupees ($16.32 million) in income tax from its bank accounts, weeks before national elections.
A part of the Congress’ bank accounts had been frozen last month pending the tax recovery that dates back to 2018-19, with the party describing the action as “a deep assault on India’s democracy”.
Vivek Tankha, a Congress lawmaker who is the main advocate in the case, told the Indian Express newspaper last month that the dispute stemmed from what tax authorities said was late filing of income tax returns for financial year 2018-19.
He rejected the claim that the party filed its returns late and said the penalty of 1.35 billion rupees was “disproportionate”.
The tribunal on Friday rejected Tankha’s argument that the action against Congress was initiated in haste close to the general elections, and said the tax demand was first raised in 2021.
There was no immediate reaction to the ruling from Congress but a lawyer for the party said it will appeal in the Delhi High Court.
The lawyer said that the income tax department had already recovered 650 million rupees and the rest could also be withdrawn soon.
The Congress has said that the frozen accounts had funds including those collected by the party through crowd-funding and membership drives.
Congress, which has ruled India for 54 of its 76 years since independence from Britain, has sunk to record lows after Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power in 2014 and is struggling to revive support.
Modi is widely expected to win a rare third straight term in elections expected to be announced in the coming days.
Last month, Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party will secure a clear majority in general elections this summer, a win that will ensure a comfortable third term for Modi, an opinion poll showed on Thursday.
Findings from the “Mood of the Nation Poll”, a survey by private media group India Today, showed that voters continue to see Modi as a popular nationalist leader who has accelerated growth and improved foreign ties.
There was no breakdown of respondents to the survey by religion in a country where Muslims make up 14% of the 1.42 billion population.
The poll of 35,801 respondents conducted across India between Dec. 15 and Jan. 28 found Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies could win 335 of the 543 directly elected seats in the lower house of parliament.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coalition won more than 350 seats in the 2019 election but top BJP leaders have proclaimed that they are looking beyond 400 seats, making it the most decisive victory ever.
The survey showed that INDIA, a political alliance of the main opposition Congress and over two dozen regional parties, could secure 166 seats.
