KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday demanded the immediate and unconditional release of co-founder of consultancy firm I-PAC Vinesh Chandel, calling his arrest “electoral sabotage” ahead of the West Bengal elections.The ED arrested Chandel on Monday, a director and co-founder of the Indian Political Action Committee, in connection with a money-laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in the state going to polls.
According to officials, he was taken into custody in Delhi on Monday evening under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).Speaking to the media, TMC Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Derek O’Brien said the ED action was nothing short of “electoral sabotage”, with less than 10 days left for the first phase of polling.“The ED has now renamed themselves as ‘Extremely Desperate’ by their actions, but despite all these, their political masters, BJP, will end up losing in the West Bengal assembly polls,” Derek O’Brien said.He further alleged that the ED was misusing the Constitution. He said that only 0.1% of 5,900 cases under the PMLA had resulted in convictions, which, according to him, shows the agency is being used against the Opposition for political reasons and to target opponents ahead of elections.Derek O’Brien also urged that central agencies be stopped from taking such “undemocratic and unwarranted actions” during election periods.TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also raised concerns over the timing of the arrest and its impact on electoral fairness.“The arrest of Vinesh Chandel, co-founder of I-PAC, barely 10 days before the Bengal elections, is not just alarming; it shakes the very idea of a level playing field,” Abhishek Banerjee had said in a post on X.“At a time when West Bengal should be moving towards free and fair elections, this kind of action sends a chilling message: If you work with the opposition, you could be next. That’s not democracy, that’s intimidation,” he added.He also alleged unequal treatment by central agencies, claiming selective action depending on political alignment and questioning institutional conduct during election periods.West Bengal will go to polls on April 23 and April 29, with counting on May 4.
