In a significant development, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday issued notices to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari and the Election Commission as it directed officials to preserve the EVMs. This was after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenged the outcome of the Nandigram polls.
The Calcutta High Court Bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar, according to the Bar and Bench website, said, “As per the office report, the election petition does not suffer from any defect as provided in Section 86(1) of the Representation of People Act, 1951. Let notice be issued in terms of Rule 24 of the Election Petition Rules framed by this Court. The matter is made returnable on August 12, 2021.”
Banerjee had lost the polls by less than 2,000 votes on 2 May this year. She has alleged fraud claiming that the presiding officer had first declared her the winner.
“They announced me the winner and after that, they are saying something else. Some looting is going on. We will go to the court,” she had told reporters immediately after her party swept the Bengal polls with a landslide victory..
The Calcutta High Court also directed that documents, election papers, devices, video recordings etc connected with the election under challenge be preserved.
The case was first meant to be heard by Justice Kaushik Chanda, but he later recused himself after Banerjee accused him of having a close connection with the BJP.
Banerjee on Wednesday made a personal appearance through a video link. Her lawyer said that she could make herself available again if the judge so desired. But Justice Sarkar said that procedural requirements had been complied with.
The next date of hearing is 12 August.