Rejinagar bypoll candidate retracts resignation after Mamata Banerjee intervenes

Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, the candidate chosen by Mamata Banerjee for the upcoming Rejinagar assembly bypoll, has reversed his decision to pull out of the race just hours after declaring he would withdraw.

The dramatic U-turn on Saturday highlights the intense political pressure surrounding the 6 October West Bengal bypolls, which have already been marred by sudden candidate withdrawals, factional splits, and rapid police arrests.

Chowdhury, a former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA, initially announced at around 9am that he was abandoning his campaign. He told reporters at his Murshidabad home that his grassroots workers were facing constant harassment and "fleeing" the constituency.

He also admitted that introducing voters to the party's newly allotted "footballer" symbol in such a short timeframe was an almost impossible task.

By 12:30pm, however, Chowdhury changed his mind. The shift came after a direct phone call from Banerjee, who promised that police would guarantee security for both him and his campaign workers.

"I am retracting from my earlier decision," Chowdhury said. "Didi told us... we cannot do anything outside Didi's instructions. I will see to it that none of our workers faces torture."

A party divided

The confusion in Rejinagar is the direct result of an ongoing, bitter dispute over the identity of the TMC.

The Election Commission recently froze the party's traditional "flowers-and-grass" symbol following a split between Banerjee's camp and a rival faction led by Arup Roy.

For the upcoming bypolls, Banerjee’s faction has been forced to run under the name "Mamata All India Trinamool Congress" using the footballer symbol, while Roy's faction is campaigning as the "Democratic Trinamool Congress" under an envelope symbol. Banerjee has challenged the electoral regulator's freeze in the Supreme Court.

Parallel turmoil in Nandigram

Chowdhury's brief exit came just one day after the Banerjee camp suffered a major setback in the high-profile constituency of Nandigram.

On Friday, their Nandigram candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew her nomination. Her withdrawal came shortly after she and her husband met West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at the state secretariat. Dey, who had recently lost her job in connection with a state teacher recruitment scam, did not give a clear reason for pulling out.

Left without a candidate in Nandigram, Banerjee quickly announced that her faction would support the Congress nominee, Milan Pradhan, calling the Congress a "sister party" and framing the move as a unified stand for the national opposition alliance.

Candidates behind bars

Within hours of receiving Banerjee's backing, the police arrested Pradhan. Officers picked him up in connection with a 20-year-old criminal case dating back to the 2007 land acquisition protests in Nandigram.

Congress leaders have condemned the arrest as a political hit. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, called the arrest "political revenge" and "the murder of democracy," accusing the ruling party of trying to steal the election.

Pradhan is not the only candidate to end up in custody. On Saturday, police in Berhampore arrested Saiful Islam, an independent candidate running in Rejinagar for the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP). Officers said the arrest was linked to a clash between rival groups during the 2021 state elections.

Police have also detained AJUP’s state secretary, Ashik Iqbal, after claiming to have found him with fake currency and illegal weapons, and have summoned the party's leader, Humayun Kabir, over an alleged conspiracy to incite communal tension.

The bypolls in both Rejinagar and Nandigram are scheduled for 6 October, with votes due to be counted on 9 October.