The Crossbill Team
Political tensions in West Bengal have intensified following the Enforcement Directorate’s searches at locations linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC, with questions now being raised over the presence of senior state bureaucrats alongside Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the firm’s Sector V office during the operation.
The controversy centres on the alleged presence of Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Manoj Pant and other officials with Banerjee at the I-PAC office while the ED was carrying out searches on Thursday.
The row deepened on Friday after Banerjee said she had gone there as chairperson of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The ED had raided multiple locations in Kolkata and Bidhannagar, including those linked to I-PAC, as part of a money laundering investigation connected to the coal smuggling scam. In total, four locations in Delhi and six in Bengal were searched, including I-PAC’s office and the residence of its director Pratik Jain.
The agency said proceeds of the scam, amounting to crores of rupees, had been routed to I-PAC through hawala channels.
The searches covered I-PAC’s office on the 11th floor of a Salt Lake building, Jain’s Loudon Street residence and the office of a trader in Posta, Burrabazar. Soon after the raid began, Banerjee reached Jain’s home and allegedly took some files, a laptop and documents from there before heading to the I-PAC office in Sector V.
According to The Indian Express, Chakravorty, Pant and other officials also arrived in Salt Lake shortly afterwards.
A senior state government official was quoted as saying, “Police officers can go anywhere with the chief minister because there may be a security threat or law and order issues. But there was no need to rush physically to the spot, especially where a security agency was conducting a search operation. It is gross misconduct.”
He added, “I can remember both Jyoti Basu or Buddhadeb Bhattacharya never met any officers in their party office or residence.”
CPI(M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty accused both the TMC and the BJP of colluding in the episode.
“Mamata Banerjee herself said that she went there as a Trinamool Congress leader. Then why did she have Z-category security and too many police officers? It could be argued that she needed security cover owing to threats from within her party. But how and when did the chief secretary and the principal secretary become part of this security cover? Why did they go there?” he asked.
He further said, “Why is the state government or Centre not taking steps against them? It basically proves that in West Bengal, everything is mixed up and messed, and that it is another friendly match between the state and Centre.”
The political dispute has also spilled over into the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, CPI(M) state secretariat member Samik Lahiri alleged serious procedural lapses and raised concerns about voter data being handled by private contract workers affiliated with I-PAC, the election management firm of the ruling TMC.
“Allowing employees of a firm working for a specific political party to handle the ‘back-end’ of the voter list preparation is a direct conflict of interest. It violates the core principle of Article 324, which vests the control of electoral rolls solely on an independent Commission. The presence of partisan personnel in the ‘Data Room’ provides the ruling party with unauthorised access to sensitive voter data and the power to manipulate the inclusion or exclusion of names,” Lahiri wrote.
The CPI(M) has demanded that all contract staff working in ERO offices be disclosed, that IP addresses used to upload electoral forms be verified, and that police verification be conducted on individuals handling voter data.
It has also accused the Election Commission of India of a massive failure in South 24 Parganas, particularly in Diamond Harbour and Falta, alleging that thousands of deceased people and “ghost voters” remain on the rolls.
The party further flagged what it described as arbitrary categorisation of voters as “logical discrepancy” or “unmapped”, the exclusion of Booth Level Agents from verification and the difficulties faced by elderly voters, persons with disabilities and migrant workers because of centralised hearings and documentation requirements.
The row over the SIR and I-PAC has also drawn in Banerjee, who has written several letters to the Election Commission alleging that voter-related documents and data were being taken from I-PAC’s office and seeking its intervention.
Speaking at a protest rally a day after the ED raids at the Sector V office and at Jain’s residence, Banerjee said, “Why did you come like a thief? You were stealing and taking away people’s SIR money. You were stealing BLA-1 and BLA-2 addresses, applications of ordinary people, and data from my office, from I-PAC, which we had authorised.”
The West Bengal chief minister has also described the SIR exercise as “chaotic, unplanned, and dangerous” in her communications to the Election Commission.
The controversy centres on the alleged presence of Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Manoj Pant and other officials with Banerjee at the I-PAC office while the ED was carrying out searches on Thursday.
The row deepened on Friday after Banerjee said she had gone there as chairperson of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The ED had raided multiple locations in Kolkata and Bidhannagar, including those linked to I-PAC, as part of a money laundering investigation connected to the coal smuggling scam. In total, four locations in Delhi and six in Bengal were searched, including I-PAC’s office and the residence of its director Pratik Jain.
The agency said proceeds of the scam, amounting to crores of rupees, had been routed to I-PAC through hawala channels.
The searches covered I-PAC’s office on the 11th floor of a Salt Lake building, Jain’s Loudon Street residence and the office of a trader in Posta, Burrabazar. Soon after the raid began, Banerjee reached Jain’s home and allegedly took some files, a laptop and documents from there before heading to the I-PAC office in Sector V.
According to The Indian Express, Chakravorty, Pant and other officials also arrived in Salt Lake shortly afterwards.
A senior state government official was quoted as saying, “Police officers can go anywhere with the chief minister because there may be a security threat or law and order issues. But there was no need to rush physically to the spot, especially where a security agency was conducting a search operation. It is gross misconduct.”
He added, “I can remember both Jyoti Basu or Buddhadeb Bhattacharya never met any officers in their party office or residence.”
CPI(M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty accused both the TMC and the BJP of colluding in the episode.
“Mamata Banerjee herself said that she went there as a Trinamool Congress leader. Then why did she have Z-category security and too many police officers? It could be argued that she needed security cover owing to threats from within her party. But how and when did the chief secretary and the principal secretary become part of this security cover? Why did they go there?” he asked.
He further said, “Why is the state government or Centre not taking steps against them? It basically proves that in West Bengal, everything is mixed up and messed, and that it is another friendly match between the state and Centre.”
The political dispute has also spilled over into the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, CPI(M) state secretariat member Samik Lahiri alleged serious procedural lapses and raised concerns about voter data being handled by private contract workers affiliated with I-PAC, the election management firm of the ruling TMC.
“Allowing employees of a firm working for a specific political party to handle the ‘back-end’ of the voter list preparation is a direct conflict of interest. It violates the core principle of Article 324, which vests the control of electoral rolls solely on an independent Commission. The presence of partisan personnel in the ‘Data Room’ provides the ruling party with unauthorised access to sensitive voter data and the power to manipulate the inclusion or exclusion of names,” Lahiri wrote.
The CPI(M) has demanded that all contract staff working in ERO offices be disclosed, that IP addresses used to upload electoral forms be verified, and that police verification be conducted on individuals handling voter data.
It has also accused the Election Commission of India of a massive failure in South 24 Parganas, particularly in Diamond Harbour and Falta, alleging that thousands of deceased people and “ghost voters” remain on the rolls.
The party further flagged what it described as arbitrary categorisation of voters as “logical discrepancy” or “unmapped”, the exclusion of Booth Level Agents from verification and the difficulties faced by elderly voters, persons with disabilities and migrant workers because of centralised hearings and documentation requirements.
The row over the SIR and I-PAC has also drawn in Banerjee, who has written several letters to the Election Commission alleging that voter-related documents and data were being taken from I-PAC’s office and seeking its intervention.
Speaking at a protest rally a day after the ED raids at the Sector V office and at Jain’s residence, Banerjee said, “Why did you come like a thief? You were stealing and taking away people’s SIR money. You were stealing BLA-1 and BLA-2 addresses, applications of ordinary people, and data from my office, from I-PAC, which we had authorised.”
The West Bengal chief minister has also described the SIR exercise as “chaotic, unplanned, and dangerous” in her communications to the Election Commission.
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