A blast took place in the Naopukuria area of West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Tuesday evening. The area falls under the Rejinagar Assembly constituency.
The blast occurred a few weeks before the Rejinagar Assembly by-election scheduled for 6 October. Police recovered bombs kept in a container from the scene.
No casualties have been reported so far. Police are investigating the matter.
BJP’s Berhampore organisational district president Malay Mahajan alleged that a section of opposition parties stockpiles bombs and weapons before elections.
Mahajan said, “Some people prefer bullets to ballot papers. Perhaps, following their old tradition, they had stockpiled bombs and weapons.”
BJP fielded candidates on both seats, ticket given to Shubhendu’s PA’s mother
The BJP has announced its candidates for the by-elections to the Nandigram and Rejinagar assembly seats in West Bengal. The party has nominated Hasirani Rath from Nandigram and Shashwar Sarkar from Rejinagar.
Hasirani Rath is the mother of Chandranath Rath, the personal assistant to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Chandranath was shot near Madhyamgram late on May 6. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition, where he later died.
In the Bengal Assembly elections held in April-May this year, the BJP won 207 seats, while the Trinamool Congress won 80, and the Congress won 2. These results ousted Mamata Banerjee from power after 15 years.
Two factions of TMC are also face to face, the real TMC fight
The two factions of the Trinamool Congress are also facing off in the by-elections. The rebel faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee has fielded Mohammad Eteshamul Haque from Nandigram and Safiuzzaman Sheikh from Rejinagar. Mamata Banerjee’s faction has fielded Sanchita Pradhan Dey from Nandigram and former MLA Rabiul Alam Chowdhury from Rejinagar.
Both factions are claiming the “Jodha Ghas Phool” election symbol, claiming to be the real TMC. The Election Commission has requested additional documents from both parties and directed them to respond by September 16. If the Commission fails to resolve this dispute before the by-election, the existing election symbols could be frozen. In such a situation, both factions may have to contest with different names and symbols.
Congress, CPI(M) also announced candidates
The Congress has fielded Milan Pradhan from Nandigram and Mohammad Abdullahi Khalifa from Rejinagar. The CPI(M) has fielded advocate Syed Asad Ali from Rejinagar, and the CPI has fielded Shanti Gopal Giri from Nandigram.
Suvendu defeated Mamata from Nandigram, BJP has been winning for two consecutive times
Nandigram has long been a major political battleground between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP. The 2007 anti-land acquisition movement in the area played a major role in bringing Mamata Banerjee and the TMC to power in 2011.
In 2021, Mamata Banerjee contested from here against current Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, but lost. In the 2026 assembly elections, Suvendu Adhikari contested both Nandigram and Bhawanipur, winning both seats.
Later, Adhikari retained the Bhawanipur seat and resigned from Nandigram, leaving the Nandigram seat vacant.
By-elections to 6 seats in 4 states, including Bengal
Two seats in Tamil Nadu: Madurantakam and Dharapuram – These two assembly seats fell vacant following the resignations of Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama. The final voter lists for both seats were released on February 23.
Thattanchavady seat in Puducherry: This seat fell vacant following the resignation of N. Rangasamy. The voter list for the seat was published on February 14.
West Bengal’s Rejinagar-Nandigram constituency: The Rejinagar seat fell vacant after the resignations of Humayun Kabir and Nandigram after the resignations of Suvendu Adhikari. The final voter lists for these seats were released on February 28.
Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam: The Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam fell vacant following the resignation of Pradyut Bordoloi. The final voter list for this seat was released on February 10.
