Has Mamata Banerjee done something “absolutely unforgivable” by raiding the raiders of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), a private election consulting agency, and by hitting the streets of Calcutta on January 9?At least, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s cadres and supporters are vociferous in asserting that the West Bengal chief minister has broken “constitutional norms” by stalling the ED’s action against money laundering and corruption under her governance, and they are gunning for her head.Yet, they find it difficult to convince the larger electorate in this election-bound eastern state – and India at large – that the ED raided I-PAC’s office solely to bust corruption, its primary mandate. Despite its numerical strength in Parliament, the ruling dispensation has been unable to create a consensus among neutral experts and the wider public about its so-called “war against corruption.”However, the purpose of this article is not to investigate allegations of corruption against Banerjee, the BJP’s principal political opponent, or that against Suvendu Adhikari and others of his ilk, who were charged by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) when they were in the Trinamool Congress but secured reprieve after joining the BJP.The purpose, rather, is to understand how the Election Commission of India’s special intensive revision (SIR) and India’s premier investigating agencies appear to have been timed and synchronised with the BJP’s electoral strategy to corner its opponents and win elections – not only in Bengal but across the country.In this light, Mamata Banerjee’s “misadventure” or “street fight” in Calcutta, and even her use of “cuss words” against the BJP’s top brass, can also be read as an expression of frustration and helplessness in the face of an opponent making all-out efforts to delegitimise her mandate and snatch power in her home state.One may list the options she might have taken instead:taking a delegation to the governor and submitting a memorandum against the ED;approaching the Election Commission of India to complain that the investigating agency was sabotaging her electoral strategy under the garb of fighting corruption;challenging the ED’s action in a court of law.But the fact remains that she belongs to an enormously large section of Indians who are rapidly losing faith in the neutrality of constitutional institutions – including the investigating agencies, the election commission, and the governors. It would be imprudent to place the judiciary in the same bracket, but by its very nature the judiciary takes time and depends on investigating agencies that have already lost much of their credibility.The Yashwant Sinha routeBy hitting the streets with thousands of people on January 9, Banerjee has done exactly what the former BJP stalwart, now in the TMC, Yashwant Sinha, had urged the Congress and other opposition parties to do after the Bihar election results of November 2025.In an interview with journalist Neelu Vyas for her digital platform, Sinha – a former Indian Administrative Service officer of repute – said: “There is no iota of doubt that the Bihar election has been rigged. The only option for the opposition parties, including the Congress, is to hit the streets, get arrested, and not pray for bail. Let the government put you in jail as long as it wishes. The people will eventually find a way to liberate them and save the Constitution that its founding fathers gave them.”He went on in the same vein: “I used to take pride in my pedigree as an IAS officer. But I feel ashamed when I see Gyanesh Kumar, also an IAS officer. Gyanesh Kumar is a disgrace to the IAS… The opposition must bring an impeachment motion against him in Parliament, even if it is defeated.”Sinha had been principal secretary to former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur before relinquishing his post to enter public life. He joined the Janata Dal and later became finance minister in the Chandra Shekhar government. He subsequently joined the BJP and served as finance minister and external affairs minister under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.Same pattern across statesThe BJP’s use of investigating agencies under the cover of the Election Commission has been an open secret for quite some time. The Indian Express recently carried an investigative report showing how the ED and the CBI have selectively targeted opposition parties over the last 10 years, with conviction rates in such cases falling below 5%.There appears to be a meticulously designed pattern in the deployment of these agencies under the present regime at the centre. The CBI accepted complaints from BJP-Janata Dal (United) leaders over the alleged Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation, or IRCTC, and “land for jobs” scams against Lalu Prasad Yadav, relating to his tenure as railway minister (2004-09). Yet in 2011, the agency closed the cases after finding “no evidence.”However, after Nitish Kumar joined the Mahagathbandhan and made Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu’s son, his deputy chief minister, the CBI and ED suddenly revived the cases. In 2017, they raided Lalu’s home and booked Tejashwi, along with Lalu, Rabri Devi and other family members. Soon, Nitish Kumar switched back to the BJP.Similarly, just ahead of the Jharkhand assembly elections, the investigating agencies arrested chief minister Hemant Soren on corruption charges, keeping him out of the campaign for a significant period and giving the BJP’s star campaigners a free run to pillory him in public rallies. Fortunately for Soren, he still managed to win the election.In Delhi, the agencies jailed several Aam Aadmi Party leaders – including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, minister Satyendar Jain and MP Sanjay Singh – just ahead of the 2025 elections. The CBI-ED playbook was also on full display in Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Maharashtra, with the Election Commission seemingly siding with the ruling dispensation and brushing aside opposition complaints without qualms.ED’s raid on I-PACThere can be extensive debates over the West Bengal chief minister’s decision to take away laptops and files containing data related to her party’s election strategy from the I-PAC office. However, it is an undisputed fact that I-PAC – under Prashant Kishore – had managed her 2021 campaign. Kishore later left to pursue politics in Bihar. The I-PAC led by Pratik Jain – whose office was raided by the ED – was now managing Banerjee’s upcoming election.The ED claims it raided the I-PAC office in connection with money laundering linked to the 2020 coal scam. But can Banerjee’s allegation – that the real purpose was to seize her party’s crucial data and documents – be dismissed outright? Even BJP sympathisers in Bengal and elsewhere may find it difficult to deny.Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, author and media educator.