Congress veteran Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has stepped back into West Bengal politics after nearly 30 years and is now contesting the Assembly elections from his home seat Baharampur. In an interview with The Indian Express, he recalled a dramatic episode from his first election, highlighting booth capturing and rumours about his death.
Adhir Ranjan Chaudhry describes what happened when he contested his first election from ‘Vietnam of Murshidabad’. CPM fired at him,spread rumour he’s dead. Cong workers abandoned their booths, which CPM then captured. Chaudhry lost by 1300 votes. This was 1991. #FreeAndFairPolls pic.twitter.com/XRWBhmCInM
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Chowdhury said that during the 1991 Assembly election from Nabagram in Murshidabad, the area was known as the “Vietnam of Murshidabad” due to intense political clashes under the CPI(M)-led Left rule. On polling day, he said he was fired upon by CPI(M) workers, forcing him to rush into a polling booth for safety. He even held the presiding officer and police personnel inside, believing it would stop further attacks from CPI(M) goons.
He said things took a serious turn when rumours were spread that he had been killed in the firing. This created panic among Congress workers, who left their polling booths. According to him, CPI(M) workers then took control of these booths, which directly affected the voting. He eventually lost that election by around 1,300 votes.
Chowdhury also said that after the election, several criminal cases were filed against him, and he had to leave his district for some time. However, he made a comeback in the 1996 Assembly election from the same seat. He campaigned in a unique way, using recorded cassettes, and went on to win by a margin of 20,000 votes.
He further shared that a few years later, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee encouraged him to contest the Lok Sabha election from Baharampur. Following that advice, Chowdhury contested and won the seat with a margin of 96,000 votes, marking a major moment in his political journey.
