KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday admitted the election petition filed by Trinamool Congress chief and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging her defeat in the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in south Kolkata.
The High Court held that the petition discloses a valid cause of action and satisfies the requirements under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Refusing to dismiss the petition, Justice Gouranga Kant directed that CCTV footage of the counting process at the Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls’ School counting centre be preserved with adequate protection. The court said no CCTV footage would be deleted without its permission.
Justice Kant also directed that all EVMs and VVPATs used in the Bhabanipur constituency be preserved properly. The next hearing in the case will be held after two months.
Before the hearing, Justice Kant informed the parties that they could seek transfer of the case to another bench if they had any objection, as his elder brother is a BJP spokesperson. “My elder brother is a BJP spokesperson. Don’t file the petition in my bench if you have any objection,” he said.
Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for Mamata, said, “We have full faith in the Justice for impartiality and he will judge the case with complete liberty.”
Mamata had suffered a defeat to BJP-nominated candidate Suvendu Adhikari by a margin of more than 15,000 votes in Bhabanipur, where polling was held on April 29 in the second phase.
She had recently filed an affidavit in the High Court challenging Adhikari’s victory. She was accompanied by party MLA Kunal Ghosh and Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen when she appeared before the court.
In 2021, Mamata had also filed a petition challenging her defeat to Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore. That case remains sub judice.