Political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) has temporarily paused its ground operations in West Bengal for 20 days, citing “legal issues”, according to an internal communication sent to employees, even as the Trinamool Congress (TMC), for which the organisation has been working, denied any disruption to its election campaign.
An email from I-PAC’s human resources department, accessed by this newspaper, informed staff that “management has decided to pause operations in West Bengal with immediate effect” and asked employees to go on leave for 20 days, with a review scheduled by 11th May.
The pause primarily affects associate-level workers engaged in booth management, voter outreach, and field operations, while senior staff are understood to continue handling campaign strategy for the TMC.
However, ground inputs indicate the disruption is more tangible than officially acknowledged. A source within I-PAC said that while the party has not admitted any impact, the office is effectively shut and field deployment is not at full strength, suggesting a thinning of on-ground mobilisation capacity.
The development comes at a critical juncture, just days before voting in the West Bengal Assembly elections, scheduled in two phases on 23rd April and 29th April, with the results to be declared on 4 May.
TMC has downplayed the development, calling reports of a halt in operations “baseless” and insisting that campaign activities remain fully functional across the state.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee escalated the political attack, alleging that central agencies were being used to intimidate the consultancy firm and disrupt her party’s campaign machinery. She also offered to absorb I-PAC staff into the party if their jobs were threatened.
There was no immediate response from I-PAC’s official media representatives to queries regarding the operational pause or its impact.
The operational pause cannot be understood without the ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into I-PAC. The agency has been probing alleged financial irregularities, including links to a coal smuggling case.
Earlier this year, ED conducted searches at multiple locations linked to I-PAC, including its Kolkata office and residences of key officials.
The situation intensified last week when I-PAC co-founder and director Vinesh Chandel was arrested in a money laundering case, bringing the organisation directly into the enforcement spotlight.
These actions appear to have triggered internal uncertainty within the firm, culminating in the decision to temporarily suspend field operations in Bengal.
I-PAC has been a central pillar of TMC’s electoral strategy since 2019, playing a key role in data analytics, candidate selection inputs, and booth-level mobilisation.
A sustained disruption could therefore impact ground-level coordination during the election cycle.
