The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, January 9, 2026, carried out searches at multiple premises linked to the political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), marking the first time the central agency has targeted a private election management company. The raids, conducted at ten locations including six in Kolkata and four in Delhi, have intensified the political firestorm, with opposition parties accusing the Narendra Modi government of weaponising agencies against rivals ahead of crucial state elections.
A Raid on Strategy: Why I-PAC is in the Crosshairs
The timing and target of the ED's action have raised significant political eyebrows. I-PAC is currently the chief election strategist for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, a state scheduled for Assembly polls in March-April 2026, where the TMC is the principal opponent of the BJP. The firm's other major client is the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, which is also election-bound.
Opposition leaders expressed deep unease, framing the raids as an indirect assault on the party offices of their political rivals. They argued that targeting a firm deeply involved in crafting campaign strategy, candidate screening, and outreach for the TMC was akin to raiding the party's own nerve centre on the eve of elections. The searches included the residence of I-PAC Director Pratik Jain.
A Political Consultancy with a Storied Past
Founded by Prashant Kishor, I-PAC first rose to prominence by masterminding the BJP's successful 2014 Lok Sabha campaign that brought Narendra Modi to power. Since then, it has switched allegiances, working with a wide array of parties across the political spectrum. Its client list includes the JD(U) in Bihar (2015), the Congress in Punjab and UP (2017), YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh (2019, 2024), the undivided Shiv Sena in Maharashtra (2019), the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi (2020, 2025), and the DMK in Tamil Nadu (2021).
Its longest and most significant association, however, has been with the TMC. I-PAC has been working with Mamata Banerjee's party since 2021, engineering its victory in the last Assembly elections and subsequent Lok Sabha polls. Kishor himself has since moved on from the firm.
Cross-Party Condemnation and Questions on Timing
While the ED linked the raids to an alleged coal smuggling scam, political reactions cut across party lines, focusing heavily on the probe's timing.
Congress leaders were vocal in their criticism. State in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir questioned, "If there was anything against this company... this ED raid could have taken place two years ago too. Why today?" Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi accused the BJP of coercive tactics, stating, "The ED now raids political consultants because it has failed to raid facts, truth or credibility."
Even political adversaries of the TMC within the state questioned the move. The CPI(M)'s state secretary, Md Salim, called the raids potentially "stage-managed," expressing skepticism about any concrete outcome. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, however, saw the action as a sign of BJP's anxiety, calling it the first "proof" that the party was "losing badly" in Bengal.
The DMK, I-PAC's other major client, remained silent on the developments.
A Pattern of Pre-Election Action?
This incident has reignited the persistent opposition allegation that the BJP uses central agencies to target opponents, especially before elections. A 2022 analysis by The Indian Express found that 95% of cases involving politicians filed by the CBI and ED under the Modi government were against opposition leaders, often initiated just before state polls.
The case prompting Thursday's searches was itself registered by the CBI months ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. The TMC has frequently been under the ED's scanner, with arrests of senior leaders like Partha Chatterjee, Anubrata Mondal, and Jyotipriya Mallick in various scams.
A similar pattern is visible in Tamil Nadu, where ahead of the 2021 polls, the Income Tax department raided premises linked to DMK chief M.K. Stalin's daughter. Currently, several DMK ministers, including K.N. Nehru, I. Periyasamy, and V. Senthil Balaji, are under the ED's investigation radar as the state approaches elections.
The raids on I-PAC have thus transcended a single investigation, morphing into a major political flashpoint that underscores the deep trust deficit between the ruling dispensation and the opposition on the impartiality of central agencies.
