Cong, TMC, NCP top 3 in net; ED official says cases lodged after proper scrutiny
On July 3, as the new alliance in Maharashtra moved to get its Speaker candidate elected, chants of “ED, ED” rose from the Opposition. The slogans were a bid to amplify allegations that the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde had joined hands with the BJP out of fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
* On August 21, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh claimed that the Centre had sent ED to probe various cases against TMC leaders in West Bengal since the CBI’s probes were moving too slowly.
An agency statements and reports of politicians booked, arrested, raided or questioned by the ED over the past 18 years reveals that the new label is not off the mark — as many as 147 key politicians were probed by the agency during this period and over 85 per cent were from Opposition ranks.
It’s a pattern that mirrors the CBI’s casebook. On Tuesday, reported that in those 18 years, spanning the governments of Congress and BJP. Over 80 per cent of the close to 200 politicians that the CBI has booked, arrested, raided or questioned were from the Opposition.
The similarities don’t end there.
The ED casebook, too, shows a sharp uptick in the number of Opposition politicians, and their close relatives, who have come under its scanner since the NDA-II government came to power in 2014. The investigation shows that 121 prominent politicians have been under ED probe since that year, of whom the agency booked, raided, questioned or arrested as many as 115 Opposition leaders — 95 per cent, and that, too, with a staff strength that is less than one-third of the CBI.