A part of the Congress' bank accounts was frozen last month
pending a tax case that dates back to 2018-19, the party has
said previously. Earlier this month, a tax tribunal dismissed
its appeal to pause recovery of 1.35 billion rupees ($16.32
million) in income tax from its bank accounts.
On Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said all accounts
belonging to the party had been frozen, leaving it with no
access to funds for campaigning.
"20 percent of India votes for us and we can't even pay two
rupees for anything. It has been orchestrated to cripple us in
the elections," Gandhi said at a press conference.
General elections are scheduled to be held in seven phases
starting next month, with most opinion polls predicting an easy
win for Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Congress, which leads a rag-tag bunch of bickering
opposition parties in alliance for the general elections, is
seen as Modi's main challenger.
"We can do no campaign work. Our leaders cannot fly from one
part of the country to the other. Forget about flying, they
cannot even buy a rail ticket," Gandhi said about the tax case,
which he said had caused all the party's bank accounts to be
frozen.
The BJP was quick to deny Gandhi's charges, saying the Congress
was guilty of tax evasion and had to face action because of
that.
A spokesperson for India's Income Tax department did not
immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The Congress has said that the frozen accounts had funds
including those collected by the party through crowd-funding and
membership drives.
The party, which has ruled India for 54 of its 76 years since
independence from Britain, has sunk to record low numbers in
parliament after Modi swept to power in 2014 and is struggling
to revive support.
(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
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