Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has ordered the safekeeping of used EVMs and documents in West Bengal’s Nandigram assembly seat from where Mamata Banerjee lost the election to Shubhendu Adhikari. The court gave this order while hearing the petition of Mamata Banerjee. Along with this, the court said that notice should also be issued to the Election Commission and the Returning Officer.
Mamata Banerjee had filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court challenging the election of BJP’s Shubhendu Adhikari from Nandigram. He had alleged in the petition of indulging in corruption including bribery, promoting hatred and enmity, seeking votes on the basis of religion and booth capturing to annul the election of the officer. He had also alleged malpractices in the counting process and non-compliance of Form 17C, which maintains the record of counting of votes.
There was also a dispute regarding the counting of votes in Nandigram. Even on the day of counting, there was news in the media that Mamata Banerjee has won the election, but later the Election Commission officially said that from there Shubhendu Adhikari has won against Mamata Banerjee. There was a lot of controversy in this matter. Later, he had moved the court regarding this entire election process and counting of votes. Mamata Banerjee was present in the online court in today’s hearing.
Let us tell you that earlier Justice Kaushik Chand recused himself from hearing a petition challenging the election of Shubhendu Adhikari from Nandigram assembly constituency. Along with this, he imposed a fine of five lakh rupees on Mamata Banerjee, who filed the petition. The judge said that the petitioner had made allegations with the intention of defaming him.
