The BJP-led Modi government has intensified targeting opposition parties including Congress ahead of Lok Sabha elections in India depriving a level playing field.
Several accounts of the Congress party were frozen by the Enforcement Directorate and five income tax notices were sent by the Income Tax Department.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Modi government of match-fixing in the elections. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says, "Congress is deprived of a level playing field during elections by recent Income Tax operations and by Enforcement Directorate against opposition parties and their leaders.”
On March 29, 2024, five income tax notices were sent to the opposition parties by the Indian Income Tax Department. Income Tax Department demands immediate payment of Rs3567 crore (Indian rupees) from Congress.
The Income Tax Department imposed a penalty of Rs210 crore on Congress and froze its accounts.
The former Head of India Election Commission said official notices to Congress and other parties ahead of the actual election put a question mark on free and fair elections.
“The India Election Commission could certainly have stopped the notices against the opposition parties before the elections,” he said.
Indian Express reported actions, searches, issuance of notices, and arrests in separate cases against opposition leaders at the behest of the Modi government have been prominent.
Indian media reported Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bharat Rashtra Samiti Party's Kalvakantala Kavitha were arrested.
Congress Party President Mallikarjun Kharge inquired why Modi is using Income Tax as a weapon to harass key opposition parties. Other political parties, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and CPIM, have also been issued a notice of 15 days by the Income Tax Department. Modi government is paving the way to come back to power by fixing matches before elections.
