The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) raids on the Kolkata residence of Pratik Jain, co-founder and director of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), have brought renewed attention to a political consultancy that has operated largely behind the scenes since the exit of its most recognisable strategist, Prashant Kishor, in 2021.
The ED has said the searches are linked to a money-laundering probe connected to an alleged coal smuggling case.
I-PAC emerged from the broader political consultancy ecosystem that took shape around the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when the Citizens for Accountable Governance brought in professionalised campaign management on a scale not seen till then. Many members of that original group went on to form their own consultancies, with I-PAC becoming the most prominent among them.
After the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, Prashant Kishor, one of the co-founders, who by then had already started dabbling with politics, exited I-PAC. According to Falakyar Askari, a former I-PAC associate who worked with the firm during the 2021 Bengal elections and now runs a separate consultancy, “Prashant Kishor functioned as a consultant. Structurally, there was nothing that tied the company to him once he stepped away.”
Following his exit, control of the organisation passed on fully to its three directors — Pratik Jain, Rishi Raj Singh and Vinesh Chandel.
The central agency claimed that the investigation has established links with hawala operators. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
According to Askari and a senior political consultant who spoke on condition of anonymity, I-PAC operates in a layered organisational structure.
At the top sit the directors. Below them are engagement managers and vertical heads responsible for specific functions – data analytics, digital communication, field operations, campaign management and legal compliance. This structure is mirrored at the state level, with corresponding vertical heads.
Earlier, directors oversaw multiple states divided into regions. That arrangement continued until around 2022. After that, following electoral setbacks outside West Bengal, the firm’s focus narrowed.
“After the losses, manpower was consolidated. Most of the senior team shifted to Kolkata,” the consultant who didn’t want to be named said.
Pratik Jain, the co-founder of I-PAC, who was also a founder-member of the Citizens for Accountable Governance, is currently the central figure within I-PAC organisationally. He is widely believed to be the director-in-charge of its West Bengal operations – now the firm’s only full-scale state engagement.
An IIT graduate, Jain oversees campaign strategy, data and digital operations, and the integration of I-PAC’s systems with the Trinamool Congress’s organisational machinery. Sources say he works closely with senior party leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, and plays a role in voter feedback mechanisms, grievance tracking and campaign coordination.
Enforcement Directorate official collects documents files as they conduct a raid at the office of the Indian Political Action Committee, in Kolkata on Thursday. (ANI Video Grab)
Rishi Raj Singh handles outreach and business development outside Bengal. According to industry sources, Singh is responsible for pitching I-PAC’s services to political parties in other states and maintaining political contacts beyond the firm’s core base.
Vinesh Chandel previously oversaw northern and eastern regions, including Bihar. However, he is believed to be currently not associated with any active state-level campaign.
Since 2021, I-PAC has continued to take on assignments across multiple states, but with limited success.
For example, it worked on the TMC’s attempts to expand outside Bengal, in Tripura, Meghalaya and Goa. All three efforts failed to yield significant electoral gains, with the party winning only a handful of seats.
I-PAC handled by-elections for Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh, which did not go in the party’s favour, and later worked on the Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi campaign. “Post-Delhi, the firm effectively regrouped around West Bengal,” the consultant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.
CM Mamata Banerjee at IPAC office at Godrej waterside , Saltlake sector. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
I-PAC also has some association with the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, a state bound for elections like West Bengal. I-PAC is strategising and planning its outreach activities, and has 20 active employees in the state with a full-fledged office. It also works closely there with ‘PEN’, an in-house team of the DMK first family, with a strength of more than 300 employees.
However, compared to West Bengal, sources said, I-PAC’s involvement in Tamil Nadu is on a lesser scale.
I-PAC remains deeply embedded in the TMC’s political operations, its work extending beyond election campaigns to year-round activities – voter outreach, digital infrastructure, feedback systems and narrative-building around welfare schemes.
An I-PAC employee told The Indian Express that at the ground level, they have a ‘leadership team’ comprising generally highly paid professionals from management backgrounds. Work is divided into a field team, media team, ‘political intelligence’ team, digital team and campaign strategy team, comprising 15-20 members each, and in-charge of different districts up to the block level.
The field teams mainly coordinate with the respective TMC MLAs, MPs and other middle-level leaders of the area. A senior I-PAC employee said field teams can make hirings on contractual basis to cover the ground.
“Each team also has two-five representatives who sit in offices of party leaders, giving inputs when needed.”
The TMC first turned to I-PAC after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when the BJP stunned by picking up 18 seats out of 42 in a state where it had little presence. ‘Didi Ke Bolo (Tell Didi)’ was I-PAC’s first prominent campaign for the TMC, inviting people to call in with their complaints to a number that was advertised.
However, over time, its work has got more entrenched within the party system. An I-PAC official said: “The founding members are in direct touch with Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, the two top leaders of the TMC.”
As per several industry observers, this “close integration” explains why the ED’s action has taken on political significance. “When a consultancy becomes that central to a ruling party’s operations, any scrutiny is inevitably seen through a political lens,” the consultant who didn’t want to be named said.
This was what the Opposition in Bengal also sought to emphasise after the ED raids Thursday. Senior Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury said: “I-PAC is the eyes and ears of the TMC. It is like an investigating agency of the TMC.”
Curated by Shiv Shakti Mishra
