The Calcutta High Court on Thursday, 24 September 2026, barred the West Bengal Police from registering any new case against or arresting Milan Pradhan, the Indian National Congress candidate for the Nandigram Assembly bypoll. The order, passed by a single-judge bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya, will remain in force until 12 October — six days after the bypoll is scheduled to be held.

What the Court Ordered

Justice Bhattacharya ruled that the restriction applies to any fresh case beyond the two in which Pradhan is already in judicial custody. In a 2007 murder case, a district court has remanded him to judicial custody until 3 October; a second case carries a custody order running until 5 October. The High Court made clear that state police remain free to proceed in those two existing matters but cannot book him in any new case or show him as arrested in one during the protected period.

Arrest Timeline and Political Context

Pradhan was arrested on the evening of 18 September — within hours of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing that her Trinamool Congress (TMC) faction would back the Congress candidate in Nandigram. That declaration followed the dramatic withdrawal of Banerjee's faction's own candidate, Sanchita Dey Pradhan, from the contest. Observers have described the development as a significant step toward opposition consolidation in the state after the TMC faction's poor showing in the Assembly elections held earlier this year.

The state government has maintained that Pradhan's arrest was part of a routine drive to execute long-pending non-bailable warrants before the bypolls — a position critics have questioned given the timing.

Family Raises Questions Over Timing

Pradhan's wife, Arpita Pradhan, posted an emotional video message on social media challenging the sequence of events. 'My husband was arrested immediately after the Congress announced his name as the party candidate. He used to go to vote regularly and used to stay in the area during the festival times. He was not arrested for so long. Now, why was he arrested after the Congress named him as the bypoll candidate?' she asked. The video has drawn significant attention online amid the already charged political atmosphere surrounding the bypoll.

Bypolls and What Comes Next

The Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly constituency bypolls are scheduled for 6 October, with results to be declared on 9 October. With Pradhan in judicial custody and the High Court order now in place, his campaign faces an unusual set of constraints — he cannot be arrested in a new case before polling day, but he remains in custody on the existing charges through the vote itself. The legal and political trajectory of this case will be closely watched as it unfolds against one of the most contested bypoll contests in Bengal in recent memory.