"Allegations of selective use of investigative agencies near elections undermine institutional credibility." Suggest reforms to insulate the ED and CBI.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked the Supreme Court for a CBI probe into the alleged obstruction of its raids on I-PAC. The ruling party in West Bengal called those raids an attempt to derail it before the 2026 polls [1]. The case shows how suspicion about timing harms the agency and the State alike. Insulating agencies is therefore a constitutional need, not a political choice.

Roots of the Credibility Deficit

• Federal trust deficit: by December 2023, 10 States had withdrawn general consent to the CBI under Sec 6 of the DSPE Act [2]. West Bengal's Article 131 suit against the Union was held maintainable in 2024 [3].
• Many raids, few convictions: the ED registered 5,422 PMLA cases up to March 2022 but secured only 23 convictions [4]. As a result, the process itself looks like the punishment.

Reforms to Insulate the ED and CBI

Legal and structural

• A dedicated CBI statute to replace the 1946 DSPE Act and define the CBI's status, powers and safeguards. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel has urged this [5]. It should include a fixed time limit for States to decide on consent requests.
• Extend Vineet Narain safeguards to the ED Director: a high-level selection committee and a fixed tenure [6], with no ad hoc extensions.

Operational

• Election-period protocol: coercive action against political actors close to polls should need senior-level approval and recorded reasons.
• Better prosecution quality: more special courts and trained prosecutors, so that convictions rather than raids show fairness [4].

Accountability

• Transparency: publish annual case-wise disposal data, reviewed by a parliamentary committee.
• Separate the prosecution wing from investigators to check overreach.

Federal

• Neutral State police: implement the Prakash Singh (2006) directions, meaning State Security Commissions and a fixed tenure for the DGP [7]. Then State police neither obstruct nor shield, as alleged against senior officers in the I-PAC case [1].
• Decide the Article 131 suit so that one clear rule on State consent replaces raid-by-raid litigation [3].

Credibility depends on autonomy, accountability and cooperative federalism together. A statutory, time-bound and transparent framework, in the spirit of Vineet Narain, would uphold the rule of law and equality before law (Article 14). It would let the ED and CBI be feared by wrongdoers yet trusted by citizens of every political persuasion.