Cong Nandigram candidate arrested, Mamata's nominee backs out

The West Bengal Police on Friday arrested Congress Nandigram candidate Milan Pradhan in connection with three murder cases, including one dating back to 2007, hours after former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that her faction would support him in the Nandigram bypoll. Both West Bengal Congress and Mamata Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress targeted the BJP following the arrest and demanded Pradhan’s release.Though the police are yet to issue an official statement, sources said Pradhan was among the accused in an old murder case dating back to the Nandigram land agitation in 2007. There was a pending warrant against him, for which he had no legal protection.
Confirming the arrest, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused the BJP-led state government of violating democratic norms. “Our candidate has been taken by police. Democratic norms are being trampled upon. This is nasty behaviour by the BJP,” Chowdhury said. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal also criticised the arrest, alleging that a 19-year-old case had been revived shortly after Banerjee extended support to Pradhan.

URGENT PRESS STATEMENT by Shri @subhankar_cong , President, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee

This evening after campaigning, Congress candidate for Nandigram by-election Milan Pradhan was staying at a hotel in Chandipur, Purba Medinipur. Police came and arrested him from…

— West Bengal Congress (@INCWestBengal) September 18, 2026

Earlier,Mamata Banerjee said that her faction had decided not to contest the Nandigram bypolls and would instead support the Congress candidate. Banerjee said the move reflected the INDIA alliance's commitment to unity as Opposition parties seek to challenge the BJP together.
The Nandigram bypoll was necessitated after Suvendu defeated Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur, her home turf. He had also announced that he would retain the constituency, thus giving up Nandigram, as under electoral rules, a candidate can contest up to two seats but can retain only one if they win both. The BJP has fielded Hasirani Rath, the mother of Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant Chandranath Rath, who was murdered following the Bengal Assembly election results earlier this year, from Nandigram.
In another development, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate from the Mamata Banerjee camp, Sanchita Pradhan De, withdrew her candidature from the upcoming crucial Nandigram poll, with barely a month to go, hours after she met the Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at the state secretariat in Nabanna. This came as Sanchita Pradhan De announced her withdrawal on a day when Mamata Banerjee’s camp received a new symbol from the Election Commission for the upcoming bypolls in Rejinagar and Nandigram.
Now, Mamata is knocking on the doors of the Congress she left nearly three decades ago. Until recently, when Mamata was the Chief Minister of Bengal, she had dismissed any talk of an alliance with the Congress in the state. However, after the TMC’s drubbing, she has cosied up to the Congress.