New judge Shampa Sarkar assigned for CM’s Assembly poll challenge

The petition argued that Justice Chanda had earlier been made an additional solicitor by the Narendra Modi government

Calcutta High Court.: File photo

TT  Legal Reporter   |   Calcutta   |   13.07.21: Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal on Monday assigned Justice Shampa Sarkar of Calcutta High Court to hear the petition filed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee challenging the victory of Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram in the Assembly polls.

Mamata, who lost the Assembly seat to the BJP’s Adhikari by 1,956 votes, has alleged in her petition that the Election Commission official who was in charge of counting for the constituency had initially declared her as the winner on May 2 but the result was reversed in favour of her rival later the same day.

The acting Chief Justice had assigned the case to Justice Kaushik Chanda but Mamata had sought a transfer to another bench, fearing she might not get fair judgment from him as he had “close, personal, professional, pecuniary and ideological relationship” with the BJP and as a lawyer had represented the party in legal matters.

The petition argued that Justice Chanda had earlier been made an additional solicitor by the Narendra Modi government.

Hearing the plea, Justice Chanda last week excused himself from hearing the petition on “personal ground” but imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the chief minister for “such calculative, psychological and offensive attempt to seek recusal.” Justice Chanda directed that the amount be deposited to the Bar Council of Bengal within two weeks. Mamata’s lawyers have said they would contest the penalty in the Supreme Court. The next date of the hearing of the case has not yet been fixed.