Opposition finds pattern in central agencies’ action in election season

There are several instances of registration of cases or summoning for questioning by central agencies before the Lok Sabha elections and polls to states

A raid by Enforcement Directorate (ED) of a relative of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in a money laundering probe in the sand mafia case on Tuesday has once again put the spotlight on the actions of central agencies during election season with the Opposition pointing out to similar actions in the past few years under Narendra Modi government.

In the run up to the latest edition of polls, an MLC of Samajwadi Party, who is into business in Kanpur, was raided while some close Akhilesh Yadav aides also bore the brunt of the agencies.

There were similar actions or registration of cases or summoning for questioning by central agencies before the Lok Sabha elections and polls to states like Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, as well as during political crisis situations.

"Conducting an ED raid is BJP’s favourite weapon because they themselves have things to hide. Not everyone is like you. We have #NoFear. #BJPFakeRaid," top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Tuesday.

The leaders who faced action during poll season include NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar, National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah, Congress' Kamal Nath and DK Shivakumar, aides of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's daughter Senthamarai, top DMK MP Kanimozhi, Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel among others.

While the agencies deny any link to elections, the Opposition leaders accuse the Modi government of using the central agencies with Congress claiming that the ED has now become the "Election Department" of the BJP. The Opposition also accused the agencies of taking action in cases which were old and in which no action was taken for a long while, as they had no merit in them.

The run up to Assembly elections in April-May 2021 saw a number of actions ranging from searches to filing of cases and summoning for questioning. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew and now party General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee's wife and in-laws were summoned in a coal theft case in February 2021 while leaders and ministers like Partha Chatterjee, Madan Mitra, Kunal Ghosh and Vivek Gupta were summoned in other cases.

In April 2021 as the campaigning was on, Income Tax authorities searched the residence of DMK chief MK Stalin's daughter Senthamarai's residence following "complaints" of cash distribution. During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, top DMK MP Kanimozhi, Stalin's sister, also faced a raid at her residence.

The ED had then brought Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in its line of fire claiming that one of the gold scam accused has said that the smuggling was done with the knowledge of the CPI(M) leader.

Pawar had faced an ED case in connection with Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank case just a month before the Maharashtra Assembly election along with his nephew in September 2019.

Also Read | ED raids an attempt to pressurise me before polls: Channi

Karnataka Congress president Shivakumar faced trouble in August 2017 when he hosted Gujarat Congress MLAs before Rajya Sabha elections to ensure Ahmed Patel's victory. Just before the Karnataka elections, a case was also filed by the Income Tax Department which eventually led to his arrest in 2019 by the ED.

Abullah's properties were attached by the ED when the Jammu and Kashmir District Development Council elections were being held. When Sachin Pilot raised a banner revolt against Gehlot and appeared to be switching sides to the BJP, which he eventually did not, the agencies conducted searches at the premises of Chief Minister's brother in a 2013 case as well as that of his close aides.

Just before the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, a case was slapped against Baghel in the CD scandal case while Haryana Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda too faced trouble.

Months before the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, then TDP MP Y S Chowdhury's firms were raised but he joined the BJP after the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in 2019. Another TDP MP CM Ramesh, who was also facing cases, also switched sides along with Chowdhury.

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