​Law Enforcement Directives: On ED Raids in West Bengal & more related news here

The searches carried out by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 8 in Kolkata at places linked to the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) are a repeat development in the run-up to the West Bengal Assembly elections. I-PAC is a political consultancy firm that spearheaded the ruling Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) election campaign in 2021. The ED said the searches were part of an ongoing money laundering probe, unrelated to the elections, and aimed at tracing the proceeds of crime. The TMC held protests across the state on Friday. Even as the raids were taking place, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee went to the I-PAC office and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government of using central agencies for political vendetta. He called the raids an “attack on democracy” and accused the ED of trying to seize the TMC’s internal political strategy, data and digital material ahead of the elections. The ED claims that its officials were obstructed and documents were stolen from the premises, and has approached the Calcutta High Court. This is not the first time that central agencies – the Education Department, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the IT Department – have taken on state governments led by opposition parties. A pattern across time and space is visible that makes Ms Banerjee’s claims notable and the ED’s claim that her actions are not linked to politics weak.

Irrespective of the merits of the case, the ED’s action and its timing bring to the fore several issues relating to the fairness and integrity of the electoral process, Centre-State relations and electoral financing. Incumbents at the Center and States enjoy certain advantages in any election, but vigilance and fairness by the Election Commission of India, judiciary, media and IT Department could level the playing field to some extent. Partisan behavior, institutional deficiencies and the use of state power as a weapon by rulers are factors that can make such checks and balances ineffective or impossible. The Education Department raids tangentially targeting the TMC follow a pattern of the Centre’s chief using state power to corner a party that runs the state government. It is worth remembering that the IT department froze all the bank accounts of the main opposition party, the Congress, during the 2024 general elections. The very fact that agencies and institutions tend to be hyperactive against opposition governments and parties, and never against the BJP or its associates, is in itself telling. The BJP appears willing to bend all the rules of the game to win in West Bengal, but it should also consider what India could be losing in that quest: the people’s trust in the integrity of state institutions.