NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Calcutta high court’s order granting interim bail to Congress’ Nandigram bypoll candidate Milan Pradhan. However, the bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana allowed the West Bengal government to raise its objections before the high court if Pradhan seeks regular bail or an extension of the interim relief.The top court had on September 30 agreed to hear the West Bengal government’s challenge to the interim bail granted to Pradhan in six criminal cases lodged in 2007. The high court had granted him relief till October 20 for the limited purpose of campaigning and taking part in the counting of votes.The Nandigram bypoll was held on October 6, with the constituency recording 79.39% turnout. The election was necessitated after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who won Nandigram in the 2026 assembly election, retained Bhabanipur.Pradhan was arrested soon after the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction announced its support for the Congress candidate. After his release on interim bail, Pradhan had alleged that plainclothes police personnel picked him up from Chandipur on September 18 and took him to a hotel in Mandarmani with his eyes covered.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
“I was told: ‘Tell us what you want. You will get whatever you want by tomorrow. Just withdraw your candidature’,” Pradhan alleged. He claimed IPS officers and a DSP were present and said he refused to withdraw his candidature.“I told them that I am in politics for my ideology and cannot do this,” the Congress leader said.The Congress candidate had also alleged that he was subsequently arrested and kept in jail so that he could not reach Nandigram for campaigning.The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction’s nominee Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew from the contest after meeting Adhikari, following which Banerjee backed Pradhan as the Congress candidate, describing the move as an effort to strengthen the INDIA bloc.
Leave a Reply