India’s main opposition party says tax authorities have frozen its funds, weeks before nationwide election

New Delhi CNN —

India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, said Friday that its bank accounts had been frozen by federal tax authorities, just weeks before an expected nationwide election.

Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken told a news conference the accounts had been frozen after an investigation of the party’s income tax returns for the 2018-19 financial year. He added that the Income Tax Department had issued a payment demand for 2.1 billion rupees ($25.3 million) in connection to the ongoing probe.

Maken said the action taken against his party was equivalent to “freezing our democracy.”

“The Congress party’s bank accounts haven’t been frozen. It’s the democracy that has been frozen,” Maken said. “Will there be only a one party system in this country?”

Later on Friday, the Income Tax Appelate Tribunal granted the Congress Party temporary access to its accounts, lawyer and Congress lawmaker Vivek Tankha confirmed to CNN. Tankha said the case will be heard on Wednesday.

CNN has reached out to India’s Income Tax Department and Finance Ministry, and multiple leaders within the Congress Party for further comment.

On Friday, supporters of the Congress Party gathered in Delhi’s iconic Jantar Mantar area to protest the action, as Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge called the freezing of funds an “assault on democracy.”

Allies of the Congress Party have repeatedly claimed democracy is being stifled in India, with Friday’s case the latest in a series of investigations targeting prominent opponents of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Former Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi, the son of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was last year disqualified as a lawmaker, and