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New Delhi: As West Bengal enters the final phases of its assembly elections, central investigative agencies have intensified operations targeting the campaign machinery and candidates of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The Enforcement Directorate maintains its actions are evidence-driven efforts to ensure free and fair elections, and are aimed solely at tackling financial crimes. However, opposition parties have long since alleged that the Union government is deploying these agencies to intimidate political rivals, pointing to data that indicates a sharp focus on non-aligned leaders and a heavily delayed trial process under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Between March 28 and April 19, 2026, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted close to 20 operations involving property attachments and interrogations. The agency searched more than 50 premises across six cities and summoned nine people for questioning in connection with cases registered in Bengal.

The most prominent investigation targets the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), the consultancy firm managing the Trinamool Congress (TMC) election strategy. On January 7 and 8, the ED searched 10 locations in Kolkata and Delhi, including the residence of I-PAC director Pratik Jain. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addresses the media after she arrived at the residence of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain amid an ongoing ED raid, in Kolkata. Photo: AITC Media Cell via PTI.

Agency sources cited fresh evidence tracing back to a November 2020 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) first information report concerning alleged illegal mining and coal theft from Eastern Coalfields Limited areas. The ED subsequently registered a fresh case against I-PAC based on a Delhi Police FIR. This stemmed from an ED reference alleging that proceeds of crime worth approximately Rs 50 crore were routed to I-PAC through business channels.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Jain’s residence during the raids alongside senior police officials. The TMC alleged central agencies were overreaching and unlawfully taking away laptops and files. During a hearing in mid-April, the Supreme Court criticised Ms. Banerjee’s intervention, stating that a Chief Minister interfering in an active probe puts “democracy in peril” and creates a “situation of lawlessness.”

Following this, the agency arrested I-PAC director Vinesh........

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