Almost five years have passed since West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee moved the Calcutta High Court challenging Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s win from the Nandigram constituency in the Assembly polls, defeating her. With another Assembly election round the corner, here is a look at how the case has played out in the court.
The 2021 Nandigram defeat has been the biggest question mark on Banerjee’s political career. Adhikari received 110,768 votes to Banerjee’s 108,808, but the Trinamool Congress supremo did not accept her defeat.
On May 21, 2021, Banerjee filed the high court petition accusing Adhikari, who was the BJP candidate, of committing corrupt practises as envisaged under section 123 of the Representation of the People Act 1951. She alleged that the corrupt practices included “bribery, undue influence, spreading enmity”. She claimed there were discrepancies in the counting process as well.
The first hearing took place on June 18, 2021, before the bench of Justice Kaushik Chanda, where Banerjee’s counsel prayed for more time, and the matter was listed for June 24, 2021.
On June 24, Banerjee appeared in the court online. But her counsel, including senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, sought the recusal of Justice Chanda, as they apprehended bias.
On July 7, Justice Chanda recused himself from the case but fined Banerjee Rs 5 lakh, alleging a deliberate attempt to influence his decision even before the recusal application was placed before him.
Justice Chanda’s order read, “Some other State leaders of the said party came up before the media and demanded recusal of this Bench from the case. A nationwide controversy ensued. The petitioner in the application has annexed a number of tweets to suggest that it is the public perception that the petitioner may not get justice if the case is tried by this Bench. During his submission, Mr Singhvi, however, submitted that there could also be several tweets suggesting that I should not recuse the case, but I should decide the case untrammelled by public perception. I agree with him. Whatever may be the public perception, a case should be decided on the judicially evolved parameters.
“The aforesaid chronology of the events that took place on June 18, 2021, clearly suggests that a deliberate and conscious attempt was made to influence my decision before the recusal application was placed before me for judicial consideration on June 24, 2021. The need to be firmly repulsed, and a cost of Rupees five lakh is imposed upon the petitioner.”
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The court ordered Banerjee to deposit the Rs 5 lakh cost with the Bar Council of West Bengal within two weeks and said the Bar Council would set aside the amount for the families of advocates who had died of Covid.
“I have no personal inclination to hear out the case of the petitioner. I had no hesitation in taking up the case, either. It is my constitutional obligation and duty to hear out a case assigned to me by the Hon’ble Chief Justice neutrally and dispassionately. I have, however, decided to recuse myself from this case for a different reason. The imbroglio stemmed from the inception of the litigation was due to the assignment of this case before this Bench,” the order said.
“Since the two persons involved in this case belong to the highest echelon of the State politics, in the name of saving the judiciary, some opportunists have already emerged. These trouble-mongers will try to keep the controversy alive and create newer controversies. The trial of the case before this Bench will be a tool to aggrandise themselves. It would be contrary to the interest of justice if such unwarranted squabble continues along with the trial of the case, and such attempts should be thwarted at the threshold,” it added.
The matter was then placed before the bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar, where the first hearing took place on July 14, 2021. The court directed that all documents, devices, and video recordings connected with the election be preserved. It fixed the next hearing on August 12, 2021.
The court was informed that Banerjee had paid the fine.
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In November 2021, Adhikari filed a written statement in the court. In December 2021, when the matter was adjourned till January 7, 2022, for further direction. But the matter has been pending since then.
‘If the case had been heard, it would have been dismissed’
Speaking to The Indian Express, Adhikari’s counsel Billwadal Bhattacharya said, “She had filed an election petition against my client. She had raised certain questions regarding a judge, whose impartiality is always above board. For that, a cost of Rs 5 lakh was imposed on her. She accepted the fault and paid the fine. The matter was assigned to another bench . We have completed our pleadings. We raised the question of maintainability. As far as I remember, there was nothing substantial in the petition, nothing supported by records. If the case had been heard, it would have been dismissed. They possibly chose not to mention the matter, so it is lying like that. The petitioner did not want the matter to be heard.”
The Indian Express reached out to Banerjee’s counsel Sanjay Basu, but he did not respond to calls or messages.
This time, Banerjee is taking on Adhikari in Bhawanipore. In Nandigram, the fight will be between Adhikari and the TMC’s Pabitra Kar, his former aide.
