New Delhi: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday (June 24, 2021) began hearing of the plea filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging Nandigram election results. A bench of Justice Kausik Chanda heard the case on Thursday morning.
Petitioner's lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentions instances that shows Justice Chanda has connections with BJP and mention a case where the Judge moved intervention application on its behalf.
Hearing in matter of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee challenging Nandigram results began at Calcutta High Court. Petitioner's lawyer Singhvi mentions instances shows Justice Chanda has connections with BJP&mention a case where the Judge moved intervention application on its behalf
— ANI (@ANI) June 24, 2021
"I am asking Abhishek Manu Singhvi that if you felt that the Judge cannot deliver you justice, then why didn’t you raise it on the first day," Justice Kausik Chanda questioned Singhvi, who is representing CM Mamata Banerjee.
Justice Chanda says that the petitioner (Mamata Banerjee) has full right to move for recusal and rest assured, the matter will be decided judicially.
Earlier, the Election Commission had declared BJP's Suvendu Adhikari the winner in the fiercely contested election for the Nandigram constituency.
After her defeat in Nandigram, Mamata Banerjee alleged that the Returning Officer of the Assembly seat had said that he was threatened against recounting of votes.
Despite Banerjee losing the seat to Adhikari, who was once her close aide, the TMC registered a landslide victory in polls winning 213 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly. The BJP lost the polls but emerged as the second-largest party with 77 seats.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) even wrote to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal seeking "immediate re-counting of votes and postal ballots" in the Nandigram constituency, but recounting was refused for reasons unknown.
"Such refusal is bad in law and coloured. We demand an immediate recounting of Nandigram AC 210 to preserve the sanctity of the electoral process," the TMC had said in a letter to the CEO.
(With ANI inputs)
