States » EastPosted at: Sep 18 2026 11:29PM


Nandigram Congress candidate and poll observer 'arrested' by police hours after Mamata banerjee declares support to congress candidate

Midnapore, Sep 18 (UNI) The political temperature in Nandigram soared on Friday after Congress candidate Milan Pradhan was allegedly picked up by the police, hours after former chief minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee announced that her party would support his candidature in the Assembly by-election.
The Congress alleged that the police action amounted to political intimidation and questioned its timing, coming on the eve of the last day for filing nominations.
East Midnapore District Congress president Seikh Matin said police had picked up Pradhan, the Congress candidate, and state Congress secretary Subhashis Bhattacherjee, who was in charge of the party's campaign for the Nandigram by-election.
“Police have picked up Milan Pradhan, our candidate, and Subhashis Bhattacherjee, the state Congress secretary who was in charge of the by-election. But neither Chandipur nor Nandigram police have confirmed to us where our two leaders have been kept. It is completely undemocratic,” Matin told The Statesman.
He alleged that Pradhan had been arrested in connection with an old case dating back to the Nandigram violence.
The allegations came within hours of Ms Banerjee announcing that her faction of the Trinamul Congress would support Pradhan after its candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew from the contest on Friday.
The withdrawal left the Congress nominee as the principal opposition-backed candidate in the constituency.
The timing of the alleged police action immediately triggered questions within Congress circles, with party leaders asking why its candidate and poll in-charge were being picked up at a crucial stage of the electoral process.
Saturday is the last day for filing nominations, and Congress leaders alleged that the arrests could disrupt the party's campaign machinery and create uncertainty around the opposition's electoral challenge in Nandigram.
The developments have produced an unusual political alignment in a constituency that has long been a major battleground between the Trinamul Congress and the BJP. Ms Banerjee's decision to back the Congress followed the withdrawal of Ms Pradhan Dey's candidature.
The Congress alleged that the sequence of events could not be viewed in isolation and demanded that the police disclose where Pradhan and Bhattacherjee had been taken and under which case or legal provisions they were being detained.
The police, however, had not officially confirmed the whereabouts of the two leaders to the Congress, according to Matin.
The Nandigram bypoll is scheduled for October 6, with counting on October 9.
UNI BG CDS
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