West Bengal Chief Minister has moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the Nandigram Assembly election result, with the hearing to be held at 11 am on Friday, 18 June.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari had won the election against Banerjee from the high-profile Nandigram seat by a slender margin. The results of the long-drawn polls had been declared on, Sunday, 2 May.
Adhikari, who used to be a minister in the previous TMC government, had switched to the BJP ahead of 2021 Assembly elections and was considered a key asset for the saffron party going into the polls.
The Election Results
The TMC had scored a decisive victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections that ended in May – winning 213 of the 292 seats, while the BJP failed to reach the three-digit mark, even though it made massive gains from the 2016 elections with 77 seats.
However, TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee had lost the Nandigram constituency to her former trusted lieutenant and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Suvendu Adhikari by just 1,956 votes – after over 12 hours of counting on 2 May.
Later, Adhikari was picked as the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly.
Since the election results, the Banerjee-led TMC and the BJP have been locked in a bitter tussle over a range of issues, including the reported post-poll violence in the state.
The Battle Over Nandigram
The constituency of Nandigram holds historical and political significance for both its contenders. Adhikari had won Nandigram on a TMC ticket in 2016. Nandigram is also the seat that first catapulted Banerjee to power in 2011.
Both Suvendu and Mamata were also part of a massive anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram in 2007 against the then Left Front government.
"I am a 'bhoomiputra' (son of the soil) in Nandigram and a regular voter here. She does not even cast her vote in Nandigram. I know this place and its people for several years, unlike Banerjee who has come to Nandigram only for the elections," Adhikari had said during the election campaign.
"I accept the verdict in Nandigram. It is not a big deal. Don't worry," the Chief Minister had said after the election results, adding that she would approach the court over “suspected malpractice” in Nandigram polls.
Banerjee had taken oath as Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third time on Wednesday, 5 May, at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata.
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