Rs 115 crore frozen in Congress bank account, available balance in minus

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday said Income Tax authorities had frozen its main bank accounts, impacting all political activity. Hours later, it claimed that the accounts were de-frozen by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal pending a further hearing next week.

Party leader Vivek Tankha, who appeared before the tribunal against the order, said the party was now allowed to operate its bank accounts.

Tankha added that the ITAT has said that there will be only a lien on the bank account. 

The tribunal will hear the matter next Wednesday before a final decision is taken on the matter.

A lien on any bank account means you cannot use the amount marked as a lien.

If your account is marked lien for Rs 100, you can use anything above Rs 100 in your account. If you have zero balance, the available balance would show up as -Rs 100. That means anything you deposit in your account after it is marked lien, Rs 100 will be set off first.

Minutes later, Congress treasurer Ajay Maken said that the lien is marked for Rs 115 crore. "This means that Rs 115 crores have been frozen," he said in a post on X. 

Maken added that this Rs 115 crore is much more than the party has in its Current Accounts.

Effectively, the available balance the Congress has now is in minus and the interim relief means nothing for the party.