When lawyers with Congress, BJP backgrounds appeared for TMC Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

A lawyer is regarded as an officer of the court and nothing more. Often in the past, we have seen lawyers appearing in cases against political opponents or espousing causes they do not believe in..This is what often makes persons with legal training stand apart – the fact that they can come out of the cocoon of their personal prejudice to objectively assess or examine something which they are opposed to..The hearing in an election petition filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee before the Calcutta High Court is witnessing such a scenario where two lawyers - one from the Congress party and another with a BJP background - are appearing for the head of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC).Senior Counsel Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Soumendra Nath Mukherjee are appearing for Banerjee in the matter..The political backgrounds of these lawyers became a subject of discussion during today's hearing, after both demanded that the judge hearing the case, Justice Kausik Chanda, who himself has a BJP background, recuse from the matter.When the counsel cited the BJP background of the judge, Justice Chanda asked:“You lawyers also have political affiliations. You are from Congress and Mr. Mukherjee has BJP background. But you are appearing for TMC Chief Minister.”.Dr. Singhvi said that being a judge is different, as a judge should be perceived as being unbiased.“Judgeship is above that. It is a divine role of doing justice. There will be an obvious perception against Your Lordship because of the deep association with BJP,” Singhvi said.Mukherjee also said that while he and Justice Chanda go a long way back, the issue of perception is important in this case.“We have held each other. But issue here is whether there is a perception which will be created by Your Lordship hearing the matter,” he said.The judge said that he would think over it, and proceeded to reserve his judgment.