14 Opposition parties jointly move SC over ‘misuse’ of Central agencies, hearing on April 5

Appearing for the petitioners, including the DMK, RJD, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), senior advocate A M Singhvi told a Bench presided over by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud that 14 political parties were part of the plea, representing 42 per cent of the political spectrum.

He also noted that 95 per cent of the cases filed by Central agencies such as the CBI and ED were against leaders of Opposition parties.

While the DMK and RJD are Congress allies, the BRS and TMC have been reluctant to be part of any initiatives including the Congress. Leaders of both the parties are facing probes by Central agencies.

Singhvi said the petitioners’ contention was that democracy was in peril. While they did not want to influence existing investigations, he said, they wanted that some pre- and post-arrest guidelines be laid down.

Opposition parties across the board have been accusing the Centre of misusing Central agencies to file cases against Opposition leaders.

The Indian Express reported in September 2022 the findings of an investigation showing a sharp uptick in the number of Opposition politicians, and their close relatives, who have come under the ED scanner since the NDA-II government came to power in 2014. The investigation showed that 121 prominent politicians had come under ED probe since that year, of whom the agency booked, raided, questioned or arrested as many as 115 Opposition leaders – 95 per cent of total.

In contrast, under the UPA regime (2004 to 2014), the ED probed only 26 political leaders, 14 of them from the Opposition (54 per cent).

The Bench, which listed the Opposition plea for April 5, also comprises Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala.

With PTI inputs