Mausam Noor, whose residence at Kotwali was surrounded by Naser’s supporters, said, “The AICC nominated me as the candidate for Malda North and I started to campaign. I have been receiving tremendous response from residents wherever I go. Today, some people stopped me from campaigning.”

“I have asked them to come and talk to me about their problem. They are not true Congress supporters or else they would have accepted the party high command’s decision. I will definitely go for campaigning, no matter who tries to stop me,” Noor said.

Around 10.30 am, when Noor was coming out of her house, she was stopped by over 100 people, all said to be supporters of Abu Naser. They chanted slogans and stopped her from going out to campaign. Later, they surrounded the family home in Kotwali for hours. The agitation lasted around four hours.

“We will not allow her to stand or campaign for Malda North. The people of Malda want Abu Naser as the candidate. We will not accept Mausam whatever Congress high command says. We will boycott the voting this time if she contests,” said a Congress worker.

Abu Naser said the agitation was a spontaneous expression of the people of Malda. “People want me as their candidate in Malda. And they will not accept anyone else in my place,” he said.

“Let’s wait and see what happens. There is still time. I have had a talk with Pranab babu. The agitation was an expression of people’s emotions,” said Abu Hashem, the sitting Congress MP from Malda who is contesting from Malda South on a Congress ticket.

State Congress chief Pranab Mukherjee is expected to talk to Naser in a few days.

Late Ghani Khan Choudhury won the Malda Lok Sabha seat for eight consecutive terms and after his death in 2005, his brother Abu Hashem Khan Choudhury won with a margin of 83,391 votes in a by-election. After the delimitation, the Malda constituency was divided into Malda North and Malda South.

For Malda South, the AICC nominated Abu Hashem while it decided to field Noor from Malda North. Hashem, however, has been backing his brother Naser’s candidature.

Meanwhile, the CPM is upbeat following the trouble in the Congress ranks in its stronghold in Malda.

Of the seven Assembly seats that make Malda North Lok Sabha constituency, four were won by the Left Front and just one by the Congress. The two new Assembly segments are Chanchol and Malatipur.

The CPM has pitted Sailen Sarkar from Malda North.