Calcutta HC directs affidavits in Mamata Banerjee’s Bhabanipur poll petition

Kolkata, June 23 (IANS) A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed all parties, including West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, to file affidavits responding to the election petition filed by Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, challenging the results of the Bhabanipur assembly constituency in South Kolkata.

At Bhabanipur, Mamata Banerjee, contesting as the Trinamool candidate, was defeated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Suvendu Adhikari by a margin of a little over 15,000 votes.

Earlier this month, Mamata Banerjee approached the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Gaurang Kant with an election petition challenging the Bhabanipur results.

After the preliminary hearing, Justice Kant observed that his bench was prima facie satisfied that the petition complied with the requirements of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The petition was accepted and will now proceed to a detailed hearing in the coming days.

Justice Kant directed all parties, including CM Adhikari, to file affidavits within the next four weeks. The next hearing has been scheduled for 12 weeks from now.

He also ordered the preservation of CCTV footage from the counting centre, as well as from the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines used at all polling booths in Bhabanipur.

At the beginning of the hearing, Justice Kant asked Mamata Banerjee’s counsel, four-time Trinamool Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee, whether he had any objection to Justice Kant hearing the matter, considering that his elder brother is a national spokesman of the BJP. Kalyan Banerjee said he had no objection, after which Justice Kant proceeded with the hearing.

It is worth noting that the majority of Trinamool candidates who were defeated in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections have opted not to challenge the results in court, effectively accepting the people’s mandate despite repeated calls from Mamata Banerjee to pursue legal remedies.

According to available records, 203 of the 211 defeated Trinamool candidates, accounting for 96.20 per cent, have not filed election petitions before the Calcutta High Court. So far, only eight petitions have been filed, including the one by Mamata Banerjee.

–IANS

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