Congress candidate Milan Pradhan jailed until Oct 3, barred from campaigning in Nandigram by-poll

A Haldia court rejected Milan Pradhan’s bail plea and ordered him into judicial custody until Oct 3, just days before the Nandigram assembly by-poll scheduled for Oct 6. Pradhan, fielded by the Congress, was arrested on four non-bailable warrants issued by Nandigram police, covering serious offences such as murder, attempted murder and abduction tied to the 2007 farmland-acquisition agitation that resulted in 14 deaths.

Although the custody does not legally bar him from contesting, it effectively prevents any campaign activity during the critical final days. State Congress president Subhankar Sarkar appealed to constituents to back Pradhan and register a protest via the electronic voting machines. Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee and BJP minister Dilip Ghosh denounced the arrest as an abuse of power by the ruling party. The episode underscores the fraught overlap of criminal cases and electoral politics in West Bengal.