Kolkata, September 19, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Police on Saturday arrested Shafiul Islam, an independent candidate from the Rejinagar Assembly constituency, in connection with an old case, a day after the arrest of Congress candidate Milan Pradhan from Nandigram.
Police said Shafiul Islam was arrested by Nowda police from Domkal in Murshidabad district. He had filed his nomination papers on September 14 as an independent candidate for the October 6 Rejinagar by-election. He is a resident of Batuknathpur village under Nowda police station and will be produced before a court on Sunday.
According to police, a major clash had taken place between workers of the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) and Trinamool Congress in the Patikabari area of Nowda before the 2026 Assembly elections. Shafiul was named as an accused in the case and had allegedly been absconding.
AJUP leaders, however, alleged that the arrest was politically motivated. They said that although Shafiul had filed his nomination as an independent candidate, he was actually the party’s Nowda block president.
AJUP MLA Humayun Kabir’s son, Golam Nabi Azad, alias Robin, is contesting the Rejinagar by-election as the party’s candidate. Party sources claimed Shafiul had been fielded as Robin’s “dummy” candidate for strategic reasons, so that the party’s symbol would remain in the contest even if the main candidate’s nomination was cancelled.
Robin strongly criticised the arrest and alleged that opposition workers were being targeted in old cases after the election was announced.
“This is not how elections can be fought. As soon as the election is announced, one party worker after another is being arrested in old false cases. What hope will people have to come to vote for us? This is a tactic to intimidate the opposition,” he said.
Robin added that dummy candidates were a common electoral strategy and alleged that Shafiul’s arrest showed that the ruling party was “scared.”
The development came a day after police arrested Congress candidate Milan Pradhan in four old cases related to the Nandigram by-election, also scheduled for October 6. Pradhan’s name had been linked to a murder case dating back to the Nandigram movement in 2007.
He was produced before a Haldia court, which ordered 14 days of judicial custody.
BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said that if a person was wanted in an old case and had not obtained bail, the police would have to arrest him.
“If there is an old case and bail has not been taken, then he will have to be arrested. No one can do anything,” Sarkar said.
Trinamool Congress MLA from Beleghata, Kunal Ghosh, also criticised the arrests, alleging that similar action had taken place in Nandigram and was now being repeated in Rejinagar. Ghosh said the Trinamool candidate in Rejinagar had continued in the electoral contest despite pressure to withdraw the nomination.
The Rejinagar and Nandigram by-elections are scheduled to be held on October 6.
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