The Congress on Tuesday approached the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing officials of the Income Tax (I-T) Department of “illegally raiding the account staff of the party without any warrant or order”.
In a separate memorandum to the ECI, the party also charged the ruling BJP with “criminally intimidating voters in the Kaithal constituency of Haryana”.
“They [the EC] have a constitutional mandate to ensure that the elections are free and fair. Agencies cannot be targeting the major political party in opposition. For three days, the Congress party’s accounts section was totally paralysed,” alleged senior Congress leader Anand Sharma after submitting the memoranda to the poll panel.
Senior Congress leaders Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha, Ahmed Patel were part of the delegation.
The party alleged that I-T Department officials had camped themselves in the private residences of the party’s account staff, affecting fund flow to its poll candidates.
“The Congress party is required to transfer whatever funds it has to its candidates in Maharashtra and in Haryana, in their designated bank accounts by cheque. That is what the elections require and we have been prevented from doing that and that is an illegality,” Mr. Sharma added.
