I-PAC was founded by political strategist Prashant Kishor ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and is currently working with the Trinamool Congress and the state government run by it. The collaboration started after the 2019 General Elections, and was seen as a key driver of the landslide won by the TMC in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly Election.
ED raids I-PAC office in Kolkata (Photo: ANI)
Politics is set to heat up further in poll-bound West Bengal after the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted raids at the office of political consultancy firm, I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee), in Salt Lake and at the home of its chief, Pratik Jain, on Loudon Street. A trader’s office at Burrabazar’s Posta is also being searched.
Reports said Jain was being interrogated at the time of filing of this report and state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had reached the I-PAC chief’s residence.
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#WATCH | Kolkata | West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at the office of the Indian Political Action Committee where the teams of Enforcement Directorate are conducting raids. pic.twitter.com/kf5vlTRKC8
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— ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2026
It may be noted that I-PAC, which was founded by political strategist Prashant Kishor ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is currently working with the Trinamool Congress and the state government run by it. The collaboration started after the 2019 General Elections, and was seen as a key driver of the landslide won by the TMC in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly Election.
Kishor later joined politics and launched a party named Jan Suraaj, which contested but lost last year’s Bihar Assembly Election.
Reports said the simultaneous raids are being conducted in connection with a fake government jobs scam and target an organised gang involved in scamming people by offering fake jobs. However, some other reports said I-PAC has been raided in connection with a coal smuggling case, in which TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has been questioned several times by the ED and the CBI.
#WATCH | Kolkata | West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee says, “…Is it the duty of the ED, Amit Shah to collect the party’s hard disk, candidate list?… The nasty, naughty Home Minister who cannot protect the country and is taking away all my party documents. What will be the result… https://t.co/idhFZnWuEj pic.twitter.com/rMjcef7Vhn
— ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2026
The raids have come just months before West Bengal goes to the polls in a crucial election. The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls exercise has already raised tempers in the state ahead of the polls.
Mamata Banerjee slammed the raids and accused the ED of taking away party documents during the searches. She further blamed Home Minister Amit Shah for the raids.
#WATCH | West Bengal | The Enforcement Directorate is conducting a raid at the office of the Indian Political Action Committee in Kolkata
ED is conducting searches at 15 locations across India in a fake government job scam against an organised gang involved in scamming people… pic.twitter.com/KKms2NM7wc
— ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2026
“Is it the duty of the ED, Amit Shah to collect the party’s hard disk, candidate list? The nasty, naughty Home Minister, who cannot protect the country, is taking away all my party documents. What will be the result if I raid the BJP party office?” ANI quoted the Erst Bengal CM as saying.
“On one side, they are deleting the names of all the voters by carrying out the SIR in West Bengal. Because of the elections, they are collecting all the information about my party,” the TMC chief added.
Reacting to the ED raids and Mamata Banerjee reaching the I-PAC office, West Bengal LoP and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari accused the Chief Minister of disrupting the central agency’s work.
“I will not comment on the raid. ED will answer why the raid is going on. CM Mamata Banerjee has a history of disrupting the work of the central agencies. What Mamata did today was obstruct the investigation. In 2021, she was sitting on a protest outside the CBI office. Naturally, this kind of action by the Chief Minister, direct interference in the work of constitutional institutions and obstruction of the investigation, is condemnable for a Chief Minister, who is not just a political leader but also an administrative authority. ED will surely take action against the Chief Minister as well, using its powers,” he said.
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