Two weeks before West Bengal’s Assembly bypolls, Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founder Humayun Kabir announced on Sunday that he would stay off the campaign trail in Rejinagar, the seat he won only months ago and then vacated for his son. Hours later he said the candidate himself - Golam Nabi Azad, also known as Robin - would also not canvass on the ground.
The announcements deepen a volatile contest scheduled for October 6, with counting on October 9. They come days after a similar sequence in Nandigram, where the Mamata Banerjee faction’s nominee withdrew and the Congress candidate was arrested in a long-pending case.
Kabir, who now sits as MLA from Naoda after winning both Naoda and Rejinagar in the 2026 Assembly election, said police action against his workers had made ordinary campaigning impossible.
“I have decided not to campaign,” he said. “Whoever I meet is being arrested or threatened. They have arrested 25 party workers… I will speak to voters through social media. I will hit the ground on poll day to prevent vote loot.”
Later he added that the party had taken a further decision: “As per the party’s latest decision, our candidate, Golam Nabi Azad, will also stay away from campaigning. Our party no longer needs to campaign. We will accept people’s verdict.”
He accused the police of forgetting that they are paid by taxpayers to follow the Constitution and alleged a pattern of intimidation rather than even-handed enforcement.
Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, police detained several AJUP associates, including Manjur Rahman, Haq Mullick, Abdul Alim and Mohammad Nasim Sheikh. Independent candidate Saiful Islam, described as linked to AJUP and fielded in the nature of a dummy candidate, was arrested in a 2021 poll-clash case. AJUP state secretary Ashik Iqbal was earlier picked up during a vehicle check, with police saying illegal arms and counterfeit notes were recovered.
Kabir’s camp has given varying totals of arrested workers; he himself has spoken of both a smaller cluster of recent detentions and a larger figure of 25. Police have presented the cases as execution of pending warrants or recovery of contraband, not as election-time targeting.
Kabir has also been summoned to appear before investigators. The party’s election symbol was changed from whistle to table after a dispute with the Election Commission, adding another grievance to his list.
Rejinagar fell vacant because Kabir could retain only one of the two constituencies he won. He chose Naoda and left Rejinagar for his son. In the Assembly poll he had taken Rejinagar with more than 51 per cent of the vote and a margin of 58,876. The constituency has a large Muslim majority; six non-BJP candidates are now in the field against the BJP’s Sakharav Sarkar, raising the prospect of a split minority vote.
The Mamata Banerjee faction, contesting as Mamata All India Trinamool Congress with a football-player symbol after the original TMC name and jora phool were frozen, fielded former MLA Rabiul Alam Chowdhury. On Saturday he first said he would withdraw, citing threats to workers and the late change of party identity, then reversed course after speaking to Banerjee and began campaigning.
The Rejinagar twists follow a sharper drama in Nandigram, vacated by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari after he won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur. Mamata faction candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew after meeting Adhikari. Banerjee then backed Congress nominee Milan Pradhan. Hours later police arrested Pradhan in connection with 2007 cases from the Nandigram land agitation, citing pending warrants. Congress and the Banerjee camp called the timing political; the government said the law was being applied to an accused with old murder-related cases.
Opposition parties have argued that the two constituencies together show a pattern: withdrawals, U-turns, and arrests that shrink the field against the ruling BJP. The BJP has rejected that reading and pointed to criminal records and pending process.
