The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday sought Chief Minister Suvendhu Adhikari’s response to an election petition moved by former Chief Minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee challenging Adhikari’s recent election from the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency.
Adhikari had defeated the Trinamool Congress chief by securing 73,917 votes – 15,105 more than Banerjee who could secure only 58,812 votes in the assembly elections held in April.
Justice Gaurang Kanth said the Court was prima facie satisfied that the election petition moved by Banerjee complies with the requirements of provisions of the Representation of People Act (RP Act).
Therefore, the Court said no ground existed for the dismissal of the petition under Section 86(1) of the RP Act at this stage.
"Learned Counsel for the respondents shall file their affidavits in opposition within four weeks. Reply to the same within four weeks thereafter," the Court ordered, while listing the case after twelve weeks.
Further, the Court directed the preservation of CCTV footage of the counting centre and the electronic voting machines (EVMs) as well as Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines used in all polling booths in Bhabanipur.
Notably, before hearing the matter, Justice Kanth also disclosed that his brother is a national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"My elder brother is a national spokersperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party and that might have some concern as far as this petition is concerned. So I will hear it only after full disclosure so that you don't have any issues later," Justice Kanth said.
Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, representing Banerjee, expressed that he had no objection to Justice Kanth hearing the matter, stating that he has full confidence in the judge.
The senior counsel then made arguments on merits.
Bandyopadhyay said serious irregularities occurred during the vote count. He also said that the returning officer of Bhabanipur Assembly constituency had been appointed despite a conflict of interest and has now been posted to the Chief Minister's office.
"The second ground is favoritism. The returning officer (RO) was also in Nandigram election in 2021. That time also my client lost. There are number of complaints against the RO," Bandyopadhyay said.
In the order passed today, the Court recorded that Banerjee has also argued that a substantial number of voters were unlawfully deleted from the electoral rolls during Special Intensive Revision (SIR).