Amid accusations of ED being used as a political tool, Centre approves manpower expansion

Amid mounting opposition outrage over the alleged indiscriminate deployment of the Enforcement Directorate to hound dissenting political voices and coerce rival parties into falling in line with the BJP’s political diktat, the Centre is reportedly increasing the ED workforce by more than 60%, from 2,029 to 3,256.

The Union government, according to a PTI report published on Wednesday, has approved a sweeping cadre restructuring exercise for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), aimed at infusing the anti-money laundering agency with more than 1,200 additional investigators and staff and substantially widening its operational reach across the country.

The restructuring, sanctioned by the Ministry of Finance after a hiatus of nearly 15 years, has enhanced the ED’s manpower by 1,227 officials spread across six distinct cadres, including the executive, legal and adjudication wings that constitute the fulcrum of its investigative machinery. The last such restructuring of the agency had reportedly taken place in 2011.

As part of the expansion, the sanctioned strength of assistant enforcement officers has reportedly been increased to 803, while the number of enforcement officers has risen to 606, and that of assistant directors of enforcement to 531, signalling what many critics have described as an unprecedented bureaucratic consolidation of the Centre’s coercive apparatus.

The development assumes political significance against the backdrop of persistent allegations levelled by opposition parties, which have repeatedly accused the Narendra Modi-led Union government of weaponising central investigative agencies such as the ED in order to browbeat adversaries, destabilise opposition formations and engineer political conformity through intimidation and selective prosecution.

The PTI report, citing official figures, stated that searches and raids conducted by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) almost doubled during the 2025-26 financial year, soaring to 2,892 operations, while the agency also recorded what was described as the “highest-ever” provisional attachment of assets. The value of such attachments reportedly witnessed a staggering 171 per cent escalation, reaching Rs 81,422 crore under 712 separate orders.

The ED is said to have filed 812 charge sheets during FY26, a steep rise from the 457 prosecution complaints filed during the preceding financial year, whereas the number of Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs) registered by the agency climbed by 39 per cent to 1,080 cases, compared to 775 during FY25.

The Union government had informed Parliament last year that out of more than 190 ED cases initiated against political leaders over the past decade, merely two had culminated in convictions.

The Opposition has frequently cited a pattern wherein enforcement actions appeared to gather momentum in states heading towards elections, particularly where the BJP confronted formidable regional adversaries.

In West Bengal, ahead of the Assembly polls, the ED reportedly undertook nearly 20 operations involving raids, arrests, interrogations and property attachments across multiple cases linked to opposition figures.

Kerala too witnessed a surge in enforcement activity in the run-up to elections, with searches reportedly being conducted in January this year across 21 locations in connection with a Sabarimala-linked gold misappropriation case, while several opposition leaders had earlier denounced the ED raids conducted at the residence of former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

In April this year, both the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department had launched raids against politicians belonging to the Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress.