AAP calls I-T's Rs 30 cr tax notice 'bogus'; BJP, Cong demand explanation

Dubbing an Income Tax Department's Rs 30.67 crore tax notice as "bogus" and "vindictive", the AAP on Monday said it was being targeted by different government agencies and that it had maintained the record of every donation.

"The I-T Department has declared the complete amount of donations we received as illegal and has put it under the category of taxable income although we have maintained the records of each paisa that we received from donors," AAP Treasurer Deepak Bajpai told the media.

The I-T notice said the AAP had not disclosed income of Rs 13.16 crore and that its total taxable income calculated by it was Rs 68.44 crore for fiscal 2014-15 and 2015-16 and that the money received as donation in its bank was not recorded in the account books.

The notice also said that the Aam Aadmi Party had not recorded full details of 461 donors who had given a total of Rs 6.26 crore, each donation amount exceeding Rs 20,000.

The AAP was also accused of not disclosing the donations in its web site.

Bajpai dismissed the charges, saying the party had been keeping and maintaining books of accounts and other documents (of contribution in excess of Rs 20,000) under Section 13A of the Income Tax Act.

"We have been submitting reports to the Election Commission about the donations received as per the law," he said.

"The whole country knows how other parties finance themselves through black money, yet it is AAP which is being targeted using different agencies. This shows that the IT notice is nothing but a vindictive action," he said.

Another party leader, Raghav Chadha, tweeted: "Only political party that maintains 100 per cent propriety, transparency and compliance in its funding is being targeted yet again. Centre's vendetta comes out as an all-out war on this political toddler called AAP as they declare all our donations illegal."

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: "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 height of political vendetta."

Suspended AAP leader Kapil Mishra responded: "You submitted different details to EC, different one to I-T and (were) caught taking hawala money."

Opposition criticises AAP over Rs 30.67cr tax notice

Afer the Income Tax Department served a Rs 30.67-crore tax notice on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), opposition parties came down heavily on the AAP, saying the party that claimed to be transparent in fund collection did the opposite.

"Arvind Kejriwal formed AAP claiming to be a party transparent in financial matters but right since its formation, AAP's financial issues have been under suspicion and the tax notice comes after a long personal hearing at the I-T department, so the party has no reason to claim innocence," Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari said in a statement.

"Instead of indulging in blame game, the AAP should satisfy the law authorities in the matter of the notice served to them by the I-T department.

"...It is time AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal clears the financial issues or be prepared for the party's political write-off by the people," he said.

Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken said that it was strange that the AAP, which "professed to do different in politics when the AAP was formed five years ago, by being transparent in its fund collection and bringing new horizons in this regard, has been issued a tax notice."

He demanded that the Centre hold a thorough probe into the funding of the AAP following the I-T Department's notice "instead of doing lip service as had happened in the past when the CBI preliminary inquiry report was intentionally leaked midway through the probe to go soft on the AAP".

"The AAP had given conflicting versions of its fund collections to the I-T Department, the Election Commission and the information put in its website, which was later removed."

"It is used to giving favourable versions to different agencies which exposes the real intentions of the AAP," said Maken.