I-PAC emerges as Trinamool’s fall guy after West Bengal Assembly poll debacle

Days after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls, a section of Trinamool Congress leaders appears to be searching for a scapegoat, with many blaming political consultancy firm I-PAC for the setback.

Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Lok Sabha chief whip Kalyan Banerjee has pointed out that dependency on I-PAC had cost the party this election. “I-PAC has completely destroyed the Trinamool Congress organisation. Abhishek’s (party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee) full dependency on I-PAC has not been accepted,” Mr. Banerjee said in an interview with Anandbazar Online.

The Trinamool Congress’ association with I-PAC started ahead of the 2021 Assembly election, when the firm was roped in to shape the party’s campaign. Riding on the successful campaign projecting Mamata Banerjee as Bengal’s daughter, the Trinamool Congress won 215 seats in the 294-member Assembly. I-PAC also helped the party win 29 of West Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general election.

Riju Dutta, former party spokesperson, who was recently suspended, also blamed the consultancy firm for the defeat. “I-PAC had been running the party for the past six months. Didi (Mamata Banerjee) and Abhishek Banerjee should take responsibility,” Mr. Dutta said.

Allegations against the firm include playing a key role in the selection of candidates and sabotaging the entire party organisation. Trinamool leaders are alleging corruption in the distribution of tickets.

While it is a fact that I-PAC and its associates gave their feedback on the selection of candidates, all the power in the party was concentrated with Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. I-PAC is primarily comprised of young associates in their twenties and early thirties working across the districts of the State, who decided the campaign strategy and also served as the eyes and ears of the party’s top leadership stationed in Kolkata.

It is not only Kalyan Banerjee and Riju Dutta, but several other leaders across districts, including former Rajganj MLA Khageswar Roy and Jalpiaguri leader Sourav Chakraborty, have also blamed I-PAC.

However, months before the Assembly polls, the entire party had described Mamata Banerjee’s intervention during ED raids at the residence and office of I-PAC founder Pratik Jain as a “masterstroke”.

On January 6, Ms. Banerjee walked into the residence and office of Mr. Jain while ED officials were conducting searches. She was alleged to have taken away some documents during the raids. The ED later approached the Supreme Court over the matter, which is pending. 

The Trinamool leadership had also denied reports of I-PAC suspending operations during the height of the election campaign, even though most of its team members had stopped working for the party.

During the height of campaigning, the ED had arrested I-PAC director Vinesh Chandel in Delhi in connection with an alleged West Bengal coal-smuggling money-laundering case. He was granted regular bail by a Delhi court on April 30, a day after polling concluded in the State.

The Trinamool’s defeat is a result of multiple factors, the primary being anti-incumbency, polarisation of Hindu votes and the split of Muslim votes. Political observers believe that Trinamool leaders who want to remain in the party and cannot directly blame Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee for the loss are instead putting the entire blame on I-PAC.