The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has approached the Calcutta High Court with a significant petition against the Enforcement Directorate (ED), accusing the central agency of a severe breach of privacy and overstepping its legal mandate. The move comes in the wake of searches conducted at the office of the party's political strategist, I-PAC, and the residence of one of its directors.
Core Allegations: Political Vendetta and Privacy Violation
In its legal filing, the TMC has framed the ED's actions as a direct act of political vendetta. The party contends that the raids were a calculated response to party chief Mamata Banerjee's threat to approach the Supreme Court regarding the chaotic implementation of the SIR (Special Investigation Report) process. The petition asserts that under the pretext of a PMLA investigation, the ED unlawfully seized control of highly confidential political data.
The seized materials, as described by the TMC, include documents critical for the upcoming Bengal assembly polls. These encompass campaign strategies, internal assessments, research inputs, organisational coordination plans, and electoral roll-related data. The party maintains that these documents have no connection, or 'nexus', to any scheduled offence or alleged proceeds of crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), placing them outside the ED's investigative scope for this case.
Constitutional Rights Under Threat, Says TMC
The petition makes a strong constitutional argument, alleging a dual infringement. Firstly, it claims the targeted seizure amounts to an impermissible intrusion into TMC's right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Secondly, it argues that by accessing and controlling electoral strategy, the ED's actions hamper the party's constitutional right to participate meaningfully in the democratic process under Article 19.
"The entire action is out of political vendetta and to scuttle the democratic process of free and fair upcoming elections," the petition stated. It emphasised that I-PAC, which has been providing end-to-end campaign support to the TMC for six years, is intrinsically linked to the party and holds crucial private data.
Legal Recourse and Demands
Based on these allegations, the TMC has asked the Calcutta High Court to direct the ED to return all the confidential and sensitive documents seized during the searches. The party's legal stance is that the ED's action was in "transgression of its powers and authority" under the PMLA. They have characterized the search operation as a well-planned move designed to disturb the political atmosphere in West Bengal ahead of the crucial state elections.
The case, reported by Subrata Chattoraj and Srishti Lakhotia, sets the stage for a high-stakes legal battle that intersects law, politics, and the fundamental rights of a political party in the midst of an election cycle.
