Milan Pradhan was taken into custody on September 28, 2026 at a West Bengal police station in Nandigram, hours after Mamata Banerjee’s faction announced its support for his candidacy at a press conference in Kalighat. Pradhan faces charges linked to a 2007 murder that occurred during the anti‑land acquisition protests that sparked the Nandigram movement.
The 2007 incident remains a flashpoint in Bengal politics; it helped catapult Mamata Banerjee from a grassroots activist to chief minister when the Trinamool Congress ousted the 34‑year‑old Left Front in 2011.
The Election Commission seized the ‘All India Trinamool Congress’ brand just days earlier, assigning the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ to Banerjee’s faction and giving it a football‑player symbol, while the rival faction received the ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ name and an envelope symbol.
Trinamool stalwart Kunal Ghosh slammed the arrest as a sign of political insecurity, while Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the party did not seek Banerjee’s backing but welcomed her support.
With the bypoll slated for October 6, Pradhan’s arrest effectively sidelines him, and the Election Commission will proceed with the vote under the new party designations.