Arrest of Nandigram Congress candidate lawful step: West Bengal Police

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West Bengal Police also said that Milan Pradhan was absconding and had been evading the due process of the law for almost 19 years | Photo Credit: The Hindu

West Bengal police officials on Saturday (September 19, 2026) said that the arrest of the Nandigram Congress candidate on Friday (September 18) was a lawful step for the police. The cases against him are 19 years old, and some also include murder and attempt to murder charges.

“Milan Pradhan was arrested in four cases dating back to 2007 during the Nandigram protests. Some of the charges include murder, attempt to murder, abduction with intent to murder, causing disappearance of evidence, house trespass, rioting with arms and deadly weapons,” an official statement from the West Bengal police said.

“Execution of long-pending non-bailable warrants is a standing instruction of the Election Commission of India in respect of all elections/bye-elections. The arrest of Shri Pradhan is a lawful step towards compliance with the same during the course of an ongoing special drive,” the police statement said.

The police also said that Mr. Pradhan was absconding and had been evading the due process of the law for almost 19 years.

Reacting to these developments, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said that it is political revenge and the murder of democracy.

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“The BJP has no faith in fair elections—that’s why it wants to cling to power sometimes through vote theft, sometimes through stealing governments, and sometimes through stealing parties. They don’t want to contest elections; they want to end the electoral fight altogether,” Mr. Gandhi wrote on his social media.

On Saturday evening (September 19), West Bengal Congress leaders will also hold a protest rally in Kolkata against the arrest of their candidate.

“Some old cases from the Nandigram protests were still open. Once the new government came, they closed all the cases in their own names. But kept all old cases relating to opposition parties open to target us like this,” senior Congress leader Suman Roy Choudhuri told T he Hindu.

“The police could have called him. He had declared everything in his nomination papers, so there was no attempt to conceal anything. Everyone knows that a false case was created in 2007,” Congress state president Subhankar Sarkar said. He also added that such cases during the Nandigram protests was filed against many of them across party lines.

The Congress candidate from Nandigram was arrested on Friday (September 18) within an hour of Mamata Banerjee extending her support to the candidate, after her own candidate Sanchita Pradhan (De) revoked her name from the polls. Ms Pradhan met with the Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari late on Thursday (September 17) night after which she announced her decision.

Bengal / local elections / Kolkata / crime / law enforcement / protest