Nabakumar Samanta, a panchayat member who did not take oath. (Jahangir Badsa)

Tamluk, March 2: The fear of Trinamul Congress has kept four CPM panchayat members of Nandigram from taking oath for almost two years, prompting local officials to consider the possibility of repolls.

This is perhaps the first time that elected representatives of the ruling CPM have been unable to take oath for such a long time because of political unrest.

Nabakumar Samanta, Anup Mondal, Tarak Mondal and Prabhati Pramanik were the only CPM winners in the 11-seat Sonachura panchayat in Nandigram block I. They were among nearly 1,000 CPM leaders and workers who fled their homes after the party’s panchayat election rout.

Nabakumar and Anup have not returned, Tarak and Prabhati have. But the CPM alleges that the two are not allowed to do any political work.

C.D. Lama, the district magistrate of East Midnapore where Nandigram is located, said: “The four panchayat members have refused to take oath despite our assurance of security. We will soon announce repolling for the seats.” When a repoll is to be held is the district magistrate’s decision.

Nabakumar’s elder brother Shankar, a CPM member of the previous panchayat, was burnt to death, allegedly by activists of the Trinamul-led Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee when the land war broke on January 6, 2007.

Nabakumar, a CPM branch committee member who now lives in Haldia in a rented house with his wife and two daughters, fled during the violence, but returned for the recapture of Nandigram by the CPM in November 2007. He ran away again barely six months later, after Trinamul bagged 16 of the 17 panchayats in Nandigram blocks I and II. “We lost almost all the panchayats to Trinamul. I felt insecure. The gruesome murder of my elder brother is still raw in my mind. I may also meet with the same fate if I go there. I don’t have the courage to go to Sonachura and take oath as an elected member,” said Nabakumar.

Anup also stays in Haldia with his elder brother, who works in the dock.

The CPM branch committee member accused the administration of failing to provide security. “I could not vote even in the Lok Sabha polls last year. We have repeatedly asked the administration to provide security and help us return but they have failed to do so. In such circumstances, how can we return to take oath as elected members?” he asked.

Fifteen other CPM members elected to the panchayats in Amdabad, Boyal and Reyapara in Nandigram block II, which did not see violence on the scale as was witnessed in Sonachura, have taken oath, but have managed to do little else.

“Since Trinamul swept the polls, they have not let our panchayat members work. We have repeatedly asked the administration to ensure an environment in which all parties can co-exist. But nothing has happened,” a district CPM leader said.

Lama, however, promised “all steps” to ensure that those who have fled their homes could return home. “We have asked them repeatedly to contact us so that we can reach them home safely, but no one came,” she said.

District Trinamul leader Mamud Hossain said the CPM men were not returning, fearing the police would catch them. “These people have complaints against them in the police station. They are not returning home fearing arrest,” he said.

The CPM could not campaign in Nandigram before the Lok Sabha elections. In January 2009, when former MP Lakshman Seth went to campaign for the Nandigram Assembly bypoll with heavy police protection, the group was stoned in Sonachura.