WEST BENGAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS: On the first day of the assembly election on Thursday, violent confrontations in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal between TMC workers and those who supported the Aam Janata Unnayan Party leader Humayun Kabir erupted. The violence that followed the start of the high-stakes election in West Bengal was preceded by a scathing attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress by Humayun Kabir, who accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of plotting a massive bribery campaign to sabotage his campaign.
Humayun Kabir: ‘Mamata Banerjee has purchased 27 of our candidates’
Kabir claimed that the TMC was aggressively buying his party candidates in order to make them leave the competition. In an early morning poll, he claimed that the ruling party had been bribing 27 candidates of the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) throughout the state.
Kabir said that Mamata Banerjee had bought 27 of our candidates in different seats in Bengal between Rs 9 lakh and 30 lakh.
He said his original list of 142 candidates has been narrowed to 115 due to these financial favoritism. He claimed that Mamata Banerjee does not want the Muslim electorate of the state to support her anymore, and has squandered more than enough money to build temples and grant Hindu religious leaders to polarise voters.
Kabir was welcomed with a wall of resistance, when he made a visit to a polling booth in Shibnagar village, an area that is part of the Naoda assembly constituency. The backers of the TMC surrounded his car and hoisted go back slogans and labeled the AJUP leader a BJP agent.
#WATCH | West Bengal Elections 2026 | A scuffle breaks out between TMC workers and Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AUJP) founder Humayun Kabir in Murshidabad.
Humayun Kabir is visiting the area where a crude bomb hurling incident was reported yesterday. pic.twitter.com/RTrRzg2eMr
— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2026
Videos of lathi charge and clash with police surface online
This protest led to a lot of tension, and the central forces had to act immediately in order to put the situation under control. In the course of the day, there started to appear reports of physical confrontations.
The activists of the AJUP claimed that TMC employees had beaten one of their booth-level presidents at his home. In a different section of Murshidabad, a full-blown fight erupted between the TMC labourers and the AJUP activists.
Who Is Humayun Kabir?
Humayun Kabir is an Indian politician who represents West Bengal and is a well-known personality in the regional politics of the state. He is the leader of the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP), which is an alternative to the mainstream parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Kabir has been involved in grassroots politics especially in Murshidabad district and has been credited with his outspoken criticism towards Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. His politics has been inclined towards the minority representation and matters concerning governance and perceived corruption in ruling structures and structures, which has made him a contentious but powerful figure in Bengal elections.
West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 Witness Violence in Murshidabad
It was so out of control that security guards were compelled to roll out a mild lathi charge to break up crowds after a row broke out between party activists and police. The climate was already tense by the fact that the night before (Tuesday, April 22) a crude bomb had been allegedly thrown towards the feet of a resident who was coming back to the house after saying namaz.
Kabir, who did not get a chance to contest his suspension in the TMC in December after suggesting a Babri-type of mosque, is re-running under his new party, AJUP. The initial round encompasses 152 seats and 1,478 party members in the fray, and the TMC is vying a fourth term in power against a fresh attack by the BJP. As the votes are counted on May 4, the Murshidabad happenings highlight the strain and change of allegiance that marked this election season.
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