Congress candidate Milan Pradhan started his Nandigram bypoll campaign on Wednesday after his release from a Haldia correctional home. Pradhan said, "I was almost dragged out of the hotel in Chandipur and shoved into a car." The Calcutta High Court granted him interim bail until October 20 for pending cases.
Congress candidate for the West Bengal assembly by-election from the Nandigram constituency, Milan Pradhan, launched his election campaign on Wednesday, hours after being released from a correctional home in Haldia in East Midnapore.
"I was almost dragged out of the hotel in Chandipur and shoved into a car by some police officials. I was blindfolded. I was then taken to a hotel where I was offered fruit juice, dry fruits and other dishes while being asked to withdraw my nomination. I refused. Later I was again blindfolded and taken to Chandipur police station where I was arrested in a 19-year-old case," Pradhan said while addressing his campaign.
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday granted interim bail to Pradhan till October 20.
Pradhan was arrested on September 18 in murder cases dating back to 2007 -- four registered at the Nandigram police station and two more in neighbouring Khejuri -- and was in judicial remand. Earlier this week, two lower courts at Contai and Haldia in East Midnapore sent him to judicial custody till October 7.
Mamata Banerjee, who now heads the Mamata Trinamool Congress (TMC), a faction of the All India Trinamool Congress, had extended support to Congress candidate Milan Pradhan after her own candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew her nomination.
The by-election in Nandigram was necessitated after West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, who won Nandigram and Bhabanipur in the May assembly polls, decided to retain Bhabanipur and vacated Nandigram.
The ECI has announced by-polls in Nandigram and Rejinagar on October 6. Results will be declared on October 9. The campaign phase ends on October 4. Pradhan held a roadshow in a jeep.
"On Wednesday he was received outside the correctional home by the state Congress president Subhankar Sarkar and other leaders of the party. He went to his residence to seek the blessings of his parents before starting the campaign," general secretary of the state Congress Subhasish Bhattacharya said.
Meanwhile, the Bengal government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay on the Calcutta high court order granting interim bail to Pradhan, arguing that a murder accused with six non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against him should not have been given such relief.
Meanwhile, the state government has moved the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Calcutta high court which gave interim bail to Pradhan.
"Law will take its own course. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will never stoop to such a low level where it would stifle the voice of the candidates of the opposition parties," BJP's candidate Hasi Rani Rath said.
A bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya had also expressed surprise that even though all the cases were registered in 2007, the police arrested him in 2026. "It is surprising that even though the criminal prosecution is of 2007, the police made a prayer for treating the petitioner (Pradhan) as shown arrest before the court in 2026," the bench had earlier said.