Kolkata, (Samajweekly) The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, to file an affidavit detailing his petition filed in the Supreme Court to shift the Nandigram election result case to any other court outside West Bengal.
Adhikari will have to file the affidavit on or before November 29. The next hearing is scheduled on December 1.
Adhikari had moved a petition in the Supreme Court pleading to shift the Nandigram election result case to any other court outside West Bengal. The Calcutta High Court, which was supposed to hear the case on Monday, asked Adhikari to file an affidavit on the petition filed in the Supreme Court, which said that he has no faith in the Calcutta High Court. The court will decide whether the case should be shifted in the next hearing on December 1.
The Nandigram election result case got involved in a legal tangle after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee filed a petition challenging the result alleging manipulation after she was defeated by Adhikari by a margin of 1,965 votes. The case was initially assigned to the bench of Justice Kaushik Chanda but Banerjee filed a separate petition requesting to change the judge as he was associated with the BJP legal cell before he was elevated as a judge.
However, Chanda recused himself from hearing the petition, but imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the Chief Minister for “the manner in which she levelled charges against the judge”.
The case was reassigned to the bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar by then acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal. The case came up at Sarkar’s bench in August, but was adjourned till November 15.
A day after Chanda recused himself from the case, Adhikari had moved the Supreme Court pleading to shift the case from the Calcutta High Court to the high court of any other state.
According to top sources, the single judge bench of Justice Hima Kohli may hear the case.
The Calcutta High Court has asked the Election Commission to preserve all the documents relating to the election and results in Nandigram.
