AAP gets ₹30 cr IT department notice

NEW DELHI : The I-T department has issued a ₹30-crore notice to the AAP for allegedly violating norms while collecting donations, an order which the ruling party in Delhi said was “bogus” and an effort by the “people who run the country” to muzzle it.

NEW DELHI: The income tax (I-T) department has issued a ₹30 crore notice to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for allegedly violating norms while collecting donations, an order which party convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the “height of political vendetta”.

“In the history of India, all donations to a political party have been declared illegal. All these were accounted for and shown in books of accounts. This is a height of political vendetta,” Kejriwal tweeted.

The notice for tax ‘assessment’ for 2015-16 issued on November 23 seeking the AAP’s explanation by December 7 has pegged its taxable income at ₹68.44 crore. An I-T department official confirmed the notice but refused to divulge details.

Sources said the notice has asked the Kejriwal-led party, which celebrated its fifth anniversary at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, why it should not recover ₹30.67 crore from it.

The notice, according to the sources, said the money received as donations in its bank account was not recorded in account books. It also has the list of donors who made donations above ₹20,000, they added.

The party confirmed it had received the notice and termed it a “malicious” attempt to target it despite the transparent means it had been adopting. It said it will follow legal ways to respond to the notice.

“We set new benchmarks by making donations public which other political parties should learn. Everyone knows where the political donations of other parties come. This is clear selective targeting of the AAP and a vindictive action,” the party’s national treasurer Deepak Bajpai said. “We know what we are being punished for,” he added, alleging that “every single penny that the party has received so far has been declared taxable”.

The I-T department issued a notice last year to the AAP, citing discrepancies in the donors’ list submitted to tax officials and what was put up on its website. The party removed the list from the website over alleged harassment by tax officials.

THE PARTY CONFIRMED IT HAD RECEIVED THE NOTICE AND TERMED IT A ‘MALICIOUS’ ATTEMPT TO TARGET IT DESPITE THE TRANSPARENT MEANS IT HAD BEEN ADOPTING