Justice Shampa Sarkar of Calcutta High Court to hear Election Petition filed by Mamata Banerjee against Suvendu Adhikari's victory from Nandigram

Single-judge Justice Shampa Sarkar of Calcutta High Court will hear the election petition filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging the election of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram constituency in the 2021 assembly elections..The matter is posted for hearing on Wednesday at 2.30 pm. .The case was assigned to Justice Sarkar by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal after Justice Kausik Chanda, to whom the case was first assigned, had recused from the matter. .Adhikari, who was a close aide of Banerjee before he joined BJP in 2020, had defeated Banerjee in a closely contested race. The margin of victory was 1,956 votes.Banerjee had contested the Nandigram election results right after Adhikari's victory before she proceeded to file election petition before the High Court. .The matter was then listed before Justice Chanda but Banerjee had objected to the same citing Justice Chanda's past association with BJP.Justice Chanda was an active member of the Bharatiya Janata Party before he became a judge of the Calcutta High Court.He had also served as Additional Solicitor General for the BJP government before he was elevated to the Bench. Banerjee had, therefore, written to the acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal seeking reassignment of the case. This was after the case was listed once on June 18 before Justice Chanda when the issue was not raised before him.The letter to the acting CJ did not meet with any response after which she filed an application on the judicial side before Justice Chanda seeking his recusal..When I first appeared for BJP, judge did not know full name of the party: Justice Kausik Chanda recounts his initial days as BJP lawyer in Bengal.[BREAKING] Justice Kausik Chanda recuses from hearing Election Petition of Mamata Banerjee but imposes costs of Rs 5 lakh [READ ORDER].Justice Chanda had recused from the matter on July 7 but had imposed Rs 5 lakh costs on Banerjee for the calculated manner in which she had sought the recusal of Justice Chanda.Justice Chanda said that when the case had first come up before him on June 18, no request was made for his recusal. However, after the hearing, leaders of All India Trinamool Congress party were ready with his photos and details of his association with BJP and put out a number of tweets to that effect.Justice Chanda also noted that a plea was made before the Chief Justice on the administrative side for reallocation of the case."The aforesaid chronology of events clearly suggest that a deliberate and conscious attempt was made to influence my decision before the recusal application was placed before the court for judicial consideration on . The calculated psychological offensive and vilification for recusal need to be firmly repulsed and a costs of Rs. 5 lakh is imposed upon the petitioner," he had ordered.