Sen, theatre personality Saonli Mitra and actor Kaushik Sen, under the banner of Swajan, had headed towards Nandigram where they had planned to stay as independent observers during the polls on Sunday. They had requested the State Election Commission to authorise them for the task and had sought its co-operation in this matter. The Commission had not prevented them from visiting Nandigram, until this morning, when it shot off a letter asking the Swajan team to “rethink” its decision.

Incidentally, the Commission had received a fax from CPM state Secretary Biman Bose, containing scathing remarks against the visit of Swajan members to Nandigram. Around 11 am on Saturday, Swajan received a letter from the panel stating that the administration could not arrange for the security of the team and therefore they should “rethink” their decision to visit Nandigram. But the group decided to go ahead with its plans. They were intercepted at Bagnan, and asked to return. Aparna Sen said: “The SDO told us that they had instructions from the home secretary to not to allow us entry into Nandigram. We were told that the situation in Nandigram was tense and the police were busy with poll preparations. They cited section 105 of the West Bengal Panchayat Act 2003.” Kaushik Sen said, “When we insisted on proceeding without any security cover, they said that they would physically detain us.”

A flurry of activities set in at the EC office in Kolkata when the officials learnt that the Swajan team was returning and wanted to meet Commissioner Ashok Gupta. Within five minutes, the commissioner left the office. When the Swajan team reached EC office 15 minutes later, they found the commissioner had already left.