What impact will the Supreme Court's analysis of the I-PAC raids in West Bengal have on the upcoming assembly elections?

April 27, 2026

In 2021, Mamata Banerjee’s TMC won the Bengal state election with a big margin which ended BJP’s winning track record badly. Mamata Banerjee successfully played a victim card while campaigning the election on a wheelchair. This was a big loss for BJP who brought every central and state ministers including CMs for the Bengal campaign. This win boosted Mamata Banerjee’s national ambition and to look beyond Bengal and to become a ‘king maker’ in central government in Delhi. Both election strategy consultant Prashant Kishore and I-PAC played a big role for her victory. The wheelchair campaign strategy was perhaps Prashant Kishore’s idea.

Mamata Banerjee went for Goa state election 2022 in a big way despite having no presence in the state. This means huge spending. The money came from I-PAC, a private firm doing political consultancy for TMC. TMC recruited tennis star Leander Paes and ex-Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro. Luizinho Faleiro clearly stated that he joined just because of I-PAC convinced him. TMC performed poorly in Goa election simply there was no booth level workers.

TMC recruited tennis star Leander Paes before 2022 Goa election who has now joined rival BJP in 2026

TMC spent huge money for Goa 2022 election and also recruited ex-CM of Goa into TMC

Goa ex-CM hinted that I-PAC paid him money to join TMC before the election

TMC spent highest money among all the political parties for Goa 2022 election which is 47.5 Crore (link attached) while other parties spent much less. National level party with much more money power, BJP spent around 18 Cr, congress 12 Cr and AAP 3.5 Cr. These are Election Commission (EC) data provided by the respective political parties. AAP used Delhi liquor excise scam money to fight Goa 2022 and Gujarat 2022 election. If you are wondering, how TMC manages huge funding for small state Goa election, then then answer is Partha Chatterjee-Arpita Mukherjee teachers scam, Anubrata Mandal cow smuggling scam and various other state level ponzi scams (Narada, Sarada, Rose Valley etc.) where TMC extracts huge money from common people for their political needs. Helplessly poor people just can’t avoid this extraction called ‘tolabazi’ locally.

A coal scam was used to fund Goa 2022 election by TMC

Now you understand why I-PAC raid was conducted just before the 2026 Bengal assembly election. ED/CBI wanted to know which scam money was channelized to fund TMC’s 2026 Bengal election. While the ED raid was going on at private company I-PAC office in Kolkata, CM Mamata Banerjee got this information and rushed to I-PAC office. She obstructed ED officers, created a media drama for political gain and managed came out with important files from I-PAC office to protect her skin from the scams TMC doing in the state.

Mamata Banerjee insists that ED raid on I-PAC office was to know TMC election strategy for 2026 and selection of TMC candidates while ED insists this raid was nothing to do with upcoming state election but based on money trails of TMC scams. Even the Supreme Court of 22 April 2026 states that ‘CM Mamata Banerjee actively obstructed ED raid on I-PAC’, ‘Supreme Court cannot shut their eyes’, ‘cannot put democracy in jeopardy’. These are nasty comments from Supreme Court because corruption or extortion or ‘tola’ money is channelized by I-PAC for election funding. Supreme Court observation a day before 1st phase 2026 Bengal state poll may impact some voters but by and large people in the state vote on the basis of emotional issues like Bengal asmita, Bengali pride, Bengali foods like fish and rossogolla etc. Now jhalmuri (crispy stuffed rice) has been added to this emotional list.