The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was served a notice of Rs 30 crore on Monday by the Income Tax department for an alleged mismatch in donations it received to fight elections and what it documented.
The party has been asked to pay the penalty by December 7. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal dubbed the move as “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 IT department said it gave AAP 34 chances to explain allegations. It has alleged that the AAP has not disclosed donations worth Rs 13 crore received during 2014-15 and revealed details of 461 donors to the Election Commission. The IT department said the notice was issued by the assessing officer under section 156 (notice of demand). It said it is issued in the “normal
course”, where ITRs are picked up for scrutiny by the assessing officer.