Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed a petition in Calcutta High Court.
She has challenged the election of BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram.
The Chief Minister, who had contested from the seat had lost the election by less than 2,000 votes.
According the NDTV, in her petition, Ms Banerjee sought that Suvendu Adhikari’s election be declared void under on three grounds – commission of corrupt practices including bribery, promotion of hatred and enmity, seeking votes on the basis of religion and booth capture; there were also discrepancies in the counting procedure and discrepancies and non-compliance in Form 17C, which is the account of votes recorded and the result of counting.
Mamta Banarjee’s lawyer Sanjay Bose said they sought an order of striking down the election of Nandigram.
BJP’s Amit Malviya responded to the Chief Minister’s petition on twitter:
Chief Minster’s petition further read:
“Suvendu Adhikari has indulged in several corrupt practices that have enhanced his winning chances and materially altered Ms Mamata Banerjee’s chances of success in the election.”
Indicating possible irregularities, the Chief Minster told the reporters that the election officer who oversaw counting in the constituency was threatened.
“I received an SMS from someone wherein Returning Officer of Nandigram has written to someone if he allows recounting then his life would be under threat. I can’t order recount. My family will be in ruin. I have a little daughter…”
Later, Mamata Banerjee had said she accepted the verdict of the people of Nandigram, pointing to the landslide victory for her party.
“Don’t worry about Nandigram, I struggled for Nandigram because I fought a movement. It’s ok. Let the Nandigram people give whatever verdict they want, I accept that. I don’t mind. We have won the state.”
However, she warned that she would go to the Supreme Court over the way the election was conducted by the Election Commission.
“I’ll appeal to all political parties. We will go jointly to the Supreme Court and we will ask the constitution bench. There must be some limitation, some laxman rekha for the Election Commission also.”
The Chief Minister has filed a case three days ago and now the matter will be heard by Justice Kausik Chanda.
