The Rejinagar and Nandigram by-elections in West Bengal concluded on October 9, Friday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinching victory in both seats. BJP’s Shankharavh Sarkar won in Rejinagar and Hasirani Rath won the Nandigram seat.
Polling in both the assemblies were, however, marred by allegations of electoral malpractices, with the Congress demanding repolling.
Amid these allegations, digital censorship emerged as another flashpoint, with social media content documenting alleged electoral malpractice and vote rigging being restricted in India. The restrictions also added to concerns over the growing suppression of online criticism of the ruling party. For the past couple of months, Alt News has reported extensively on this social media censorship frenzy in India.
On October 7, the Facebook page of the Murshidabad district wing of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress (@DCCMurshidabad) was restricted under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules. The page remains unavailable at the tome of this article being written.
ALSO READ: Bengal bypolls: Facebook restricts local news pages covering Opposition campaign in Rejinagar
On the same day, prominent local news outlet NBTV Bangla’s (@nbtvbngla) Facebook page was also restricted in India for seven days following the same notification. With over five lakh followers, the outlet reported critically on issues of the government or law enforcement in the context of the Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls.
Alt News learnt that the two videos uploaded by the Facebook page of NBTV which were restricted in India directly addressed allegations of voting malpractices in the Rejinagar by-election.
The first of the two videos — both of which are still accessible on Instagram — shows a woman claiming that voters in Rejinagar were being intimidated away from the polling booths. A man also appears in this video, alleging that not even 10 voters had been able to cast their votes.
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Another video shows allegations being levelled by voters of the Mirzapur Gram Panchayat area in Rejinagar. “Who I choose to vote for is entirely my own decision. They marked our fingers with ink and sent us home, even though we had not yet cast our votes,” a man appearing in the video claims.
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“It is not the first time this has happened. Several of our social media posts have been restricted in the past,” Zeba Noshin, a reporter at NBTV, told Alt News.
Notably, the notices received by Congress’ Murshidabad district page and NBTV Bangla state that the account had been restricted pursuant to legal requirements. This indicates that the restrictions followed a legal request or official complaint concerning the content on these pages, rather than being flagged by Meta’s own content-moderation process.
ALSO READ: Government orders trigger sweeping Instagram censorship days after CJP protest
A video uploaded on Facebook by Bengali digital media outlet Inscript.me was restricted in India under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 on the day of the polls, October 6. A representative of the platform told Alt News that the banned video was regarding allegations of rigging in Rejinagar.
The title of the video visible on the notice sent by Meta reads, “People of Rejinagar allege rigging in byelection”.
On October 9, another Facebook post by Inscript.me, a report on Rahul Gandhi’s detainment by Delhi Police during the protests demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, was also restricted.
A Facebook user named Diya Maity also alleged that her page with close to 2.5 lakh followers had been restricted for seven days. She was also posting content on the alleged election rigging in the Rejinagar constituency.
Rigging, Malpractices & Intimidation: Opposition
The October 6 bypolls were necessitated in Murshidabad’s Rejinagar and East Medinipur’s Nandigram, after AJUP chief Humayun Kabir and Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari chose to vacate these two seats respectively, having secured victory in two constituencies apiece.
Suvendu Adhikari’s home constituency, Nandigram has a Muslim population of around 27 per cent. He vacated this seat, and retained Bhabanipur, where he defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The demography is entirely different in Rejinagar, with Muslims accounting for around 69 per cent of its electorate. Kabir won both Nowda and Rejinagar and subsequently vacated the latter, where his victory margin was more than 58,000 votes. His son, Golam Nabi Azad, was contesting the seat vacated by him.
Opposition leaders repeatedly alleged that the BJP was manipulating votes and applying pressure tactics in the lead up to the polls. On the day of polling, the AJUP chief was taken into custody by the police after a heated altercation. He was released from the Rejinagar police station after spending 12 hours in custody.
#Watch | Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) chief Humayun Kabir was detained by police from his party office in Rejinagar, Murshidabad, on polling day. Before being taken away in a police vehicle, Kabir engaged in a verbal altercation with officers, accusing them of facilitating vote theft and refusing to leave the area. He was later taken to the Rejinagar Police Station.
Video: Special arrangement
https://t.co/4JgZNMX5HR
— The Hindu (@the_hindu) October 6, 2026
The Congress candidate in Rejinagar, Abdullahil Kafi, staged a sit-in demonstration before the Rejinagar police station on the day of polling, claiming that votes were looted by “BJP’s saffron forces”.
Rejinagar, West Bengal: Congress candidate from Rejinagar Abdullahil Kafi says, “Our Rejinagar Assembly constituency’s by-election, constituency number 70, is being controlled by the police. Vote looting is taking place at every booth. At every booth, the BJP’s saffron force, along with the police, has completely captured the votes in the constituency… At all the booths, the booth agents have been removed. Some have been extorted, some have been thrown out, and this is how it is going on.”
— IANS (@ians_india) October 6, 2026
Subhankar Sarkar, the state president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC), demanded a repoll in both constituencies, alleging that the by-elections were conducted unfairly.
“This has been a ridiculous by-election,” said a member of the social media team of the WBPCC. “However, this is hardly a new development. There have been previous instances where even social media posts wishing Rahul Gandhi on his birthday were restricted following legal requests.”
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate from Rejinagar, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, alleged that out of the 14 Gram Panchayats in the constituency, a total of 264 booths had been rigged. “The police went around conducting raids; they also pressed the vote buttons. People didn’t get to cast their votes; their Aadhaar cards were snatched away,” alleged former CM Mamata Banerjee.
Further, a video posted on Facebook showed a voter leaving a polling booth with ink marks on multiple fingers, also sparking allegations of vote rigging. Opposition party agents, in another video, claimed that they had been beaten up and driven out of the polling booth in Rejinagar’s Maradighi.
Alt News had previously reported on various instances of censorship faced by local journalists in Rejinagar who covered the Opposition parties’ campaigning process and spoke on the alleged malpractices of the BJP. Several of them lost access to their Facebook pages just a few days ahead of the polls.
We identified at least 12 such pages: Murshidabad Global Times run by Asif Roni; Hariharpara Times Bangla run by Jabbar Sheikh; Murshidabad Today run by Swapan Karigar; Murshidabad Shironam run by Rinku; Murshidabad News Time run by Baktar Sk; Reporter Press run by Rajib Sheikh; M News TV run by Muhaimenul Haque; Bartabahi News run by Aminul Islam; Hi News run by Saidur Rahman; BNS News Bangla; AN Bangla News run by Abdus Samad; and News Front Digital run by Abdul Halim.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Prantik Ali.
Prantik Ali | Radio Free (2026-10-10T02:24:21+00:00) As BJP wins Bengal bypolls, Facebook restricts pages & posts alleging rigging. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/10/10/as-bjp-wins-bengal-bypolls-facebook-restricts-pages-posts-alleging-rigging/
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