TMC moves HC over I-PAC raids, alleges misuse of confidential election material

The Trinamool Congress on Friday approached the Calcutta High Court challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s raids at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its co-founder Pratik Jain. The ruling party has sought immediate restraint on the alleged misuse and dissemination of documents and electronic data seized during the searches.

In its petition, the party claimed that the seizure included sensitive and confidential political material linked to its preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections. TMC alleged the action was arbitrary, mala fide and an abuse of statutory powers, carried out without any direct link to proceeds of crime.

According to the plea, the searches and seizures were conducted on January 8 under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The Enforcement Directorate has stated that the raids are part of its probe into an alleged multi-crore coal theft scam.

TMC told the court that the seized material includes election campaign strategies, internal assessments, research inputs, organisational coordination details and voter list-related information. The party asserted that none of these have any direct or indirect connection with any scheduled offence.

The party further argued that such targeted seizure violates the constitutional right to privacy and undermines effective participation in the democratic process. Warning of serious and irreparable harm to the fairness of elections, TMC has sought urgent judicial intervention to prevent misuse of the seized data.