Kolkata, Sep 19 (IANS) A day after the arrest of Milan Pradhan, the Congress candidate from Nandigram constituency, police on Saturday arrested Shafiul Islam, an independent candidate from Rejinagar Assembly constituency, in connection with an old case.

Police said Shafiul Islam, who had filed his nomination papers on September 14 as an independent candidate for the October 6 Rejinagar by-election, was arrested by Nowda police from Domkal in Murshidabad district.

He will be produced in court on Sunday. His residence is in Batuknathpur village under Nowda police station.

According to police, before the 2026 Assembly elections, a major clash took place between Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) and Trinamool Congress workers in Patikabari area of Nowda. Shafiul Islam was named as an accused in that case and had allegedly been absconding.

AJUP leaders, however, claimed the arrest was politically motivated. They said although Shafiul filed his nomination as an independent candidate, he is actually the party’s Nowda block president. AJUP MLA Humayun Kabir’s son, Golam Nabi Azad alias Robin, is contesting as the AJUP candidate from Rejinagar.

Party sources said Shafiul was fielded as Robin’s “dummy” candidate for strategic reasons, so that even if the main candidate’s nomination were cancelled, the party’s symbol would remain in the fray.

Reacting strongly to the arrest, Robin said: “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 added that dummy candidates are a common electoral strategy and Shafiul’s arrest showed the ruling party was “scared.”

On Friday, police arrested Congress candidate Milan Pradhan in four old cases related to the Nandigram by-election, also scheduled for October 6. His name was linked to a murder case during the Nandigram movement in 2007.

He was produced in Haldia court, which ordered 14 days of judicial custody.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said: “If there is an old case and bail has not been taken, then he will have to be arrested. No one can do anything.”

Trinamool MLA from Beleghata, Kunal Ghosh, said: “This has crossed all limits of fascist autocratic politics. The same thing happened in Nandigram, and now it is happening in Rejinagar. However, our candidate is contesting in Rejinagar. Despite putting a thousand pressures on him, he could not withdraw his nomination.”

–IANS

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