Milan Pradhan, the Congress candidate for the Nandigram by‑poll, was arrested last week in connection with cases stemming from the 2007 anti‑land‑acquisition protests in the constituency. A court ordered his judicial custody until October 3 on four pending non‑bailable arrest warrants related to that episode, while a separate court remanded him until October 5 in a decades‑old Arms Act case.
In a parallel filing, the Congress lodged a writ petition in the Calcutta High Court seeking judicial scrutiny of alleged discrepancies in the affidavit submitted by BJP nominee Hasirani Rath. The petition points out that Rath’s affidavit lists her age as “60+ years” yet claims she cleared the Class 10 examination in 1965, a timeline that does not align with any plausible birth year.
If Rath were 60 in 2026, she would have been born around 1966—after the year she is said to have completed Class 10. If she were 65, her birth year would be about 1961, implying she passed the exam at age four. A typical age of 14‑16 for the exam would place her birth around 1949‑51, making her roughly 75‑77 years old today, a stark contrast to the “60+” claim.
The Congress statement said the writ petition also requests the Election Commission of India’s response to the alleged discrepancy and urges the commission to cancel Rath’s nomination if she cannot explain the inconsistency. The filing was authorized by West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Subhankar Sarkar, with party media chief Mita Chakraborty named as the attorney‑representative and Advocate‑on‑Record Ajitesh Pandey handling the case.
The Nandigram by‑poll is scheduled for October 6, with campaigning ending on October 4 and vote counting set for October 9. The Congress has indicated it will raise the affidavit issue with the Election Commission in the coming days, seeking an investigation that could affect the final list of candidates.