Nandigram by-election: Congress candidate alleges voter intimidation

Voting for the Nandigram and Rajnagar assembly by-elections in West Bengal commenced on October 6, following intense final-day campaigning by major political parties including the BJP, Congress, TMC, and Left.

In Nandigram, Congress candidate Milan Pradhan has alleged that goons are intimidating his workers and supporters. Pradhan claimed that election agents were being abducted, threatened, and forcibly stripped of documents, adding that he has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India but has received no response. Pradhan, who recently secured interim bail from the Calcutta High Court regarding cases related to the 2007 Nandigram land movement, is receiving support from a faction of the TMC after their candidate withdrew.

The BJP is fielding Hasirani Rath in Nandigram. Ahead of the polls, the Election Commission ordered the immediate replacement of the Nandigram Police Station Inspector-in-Charge, Ajay Kumar Mishra, with Debashish Sarkar, though the specific reasons for this sudden transfer were not disclosed. Results for the by-elections are scheduled to be announced on October 9.